THUNDER BAY – The Westgate Tigers senior football team completed their objective for the 2024 Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association season on Saturday afternoon at Fort William Stadium.
After losing last year’s final by a score of 14-7 to the Hammarskjold Vikings, the Tigers were able to lift the league championship trophy with a dominant 44-14 performance over the St. Patrick Fighting Saints.
That completed a perfect 8-0 campaign for the Tigers and gave them their first city crown since 2019.
“We had a core group here that were on the wrong end of things in the final last year that wanted to get back to this moment and hold that trophy,” Tigers head coach Mike McNally said.
“We’ve been pushing towards this for the last couple of seasons,” Tigers quarterback Mitch Papineau added. “We got better in every practice and we all gelled together. We’re just one big group here.”
The Tigers offence got rolling early on Saturday as they scored touchdowns on their opening three drives.
Grade 12 Z-back Tyler Rose led the way with three touchdowns on the ground. He scampered into the endzone from a yard out in the second quarter and followed that up with 18- and 25-yard scores in the final frame.
“I give all the credit to the offensive line,” Rose said. “They’ve been amazing all year.”
Papineau threw two touchdowns in the first half. He connected with Matt Smelow on a short-yardage pass in the opening quarter and hooked up with Cole McVety on a 33-yard strike before halftime.
Lance Basalyga opened up the scoring with a three-yard touchdown run after 64 seconds of play. The Tigers also got two points on a conceded safety in the second quarter.
The Saints were led on offence by quarterback Boston Bortolin. He connected with Thomas Hardie on a 90-yard touchdown late in the first quarter and then found Nicolas Lento on a 30-yard scoring play in the third quarter.
“The guys played their hearts out today,” Saints head coach Mike Marcon said.
“This team has gotten so much better as the year has gone on. Our Grade 12’s hadn’t won a senior game until this season so to get to this point was a huge success.
“We’re ahead of schedule here as we have the players from our championship-winning junior team coming in to join us next year.”
The Tigers are now gearing up for the Northern Bowl, which will be held at noon on Tuesday, Nov. 26 in Windsor.
Westgate’s opponent for that game will be from the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association, which features schools from Kingston and the surrounding area. Their playoffs wrap up next weekend.
“We’ve never played another team besides the ones from here, so we’re super excited about that opportunity,” Rose said.
“We’re lucky to have members of our coaching staff who have gone down to those bowl games so we have an idea of how to plan for travelling down there and booking practices,” McNally added.
“The number one thing though is having game tape on our opponents and we’re going to be searching for that right away.”
