THUNDER BAY – Tyler Robertson said his coaches challenged him this week to step up his game in Friday night’s senior football semifinal against the Westgate Tigers.
Challenge accepted.
Challenge met.
Challenge surpassed – in a big way.
The burly St. Ignatius Falcons back was all but unstoppable, rushing for 335 yards and four touchdowns to lead his team to next Saturday’s championship game against the Hammarskjold Vikings, downing the Tigers 27-7 at the Fort William Stadium.
“I think our o-line did great. Our defence stopping (Evan Basalyga), that’s great, holding him to seven points. He’s the best player in the league, hands down,” Robertson said.
The Tigers, on the other hand, had no real answer for Robertson, who scored from 14, nine, 12 and 23 yards, hurdling a Westgate defender on his final score and dragging about four more across the goal line on his third score of the night.
“I went to the left side and I was just pushing. I saw that I was still up and I just knew that I could get the touchdown. I just kept pushing and pushing, didn’t go down, until I was two yards away and I just reached the ball into the end zone,” said Robertson of touchdown No. 3, the major coming with just 41 seconds to play in the second half.
At the time the Falcons led 21-7.
Despite the relative ease of the win job’s not done by any means, said Robertson, who did fumble twice during the contest, turning the ball over to Westgate on both occasions.
Robertson is ecstatic to get to the finale, but isn’t taking anything for granted at this point. The job is anything but done, he said.
“It means a lot. Winning a championship, I’ve never done that before so I don’t know how it feels. We’re going to put in a lot of work, countless hours of film, countless hours of work in the backyard and then just showing up for practice the whole time.”
The third-place Tigers, who finished 2-3 in the regular season, were led by Basalyga, who rushed for 174 yards on the ground and lobbed a three-yard touchdown pass to Callum Downie on the final play of the opening quarter to tie the game 7-7.
Unfortunately the Tigers were less successful trying to establish their passing game, Basalyga only connecting on 6-of-20 passes for 38 yards, all but one to Ty Waite.
The Falcons will play in their sixth final in the past 17, last winning a title in 2018 with a 22-7 win over Hammarskjold, their 2021 opponent. St. Ignatius will be seeking its fifth senior crown.
Next Saturday’s championship is scheduled to start at 3:30 p.m. at the Stadium.
