Pride Keep Rolling

www.krammag.com
Jonas Emilsson

The Notre Dame Pride were well aware that the Bowness Trojans would give them everything they could handle when the two teams squared off in their week 3 senior boys Div I matchup.

Perhaps that’s why they stepped their own game up to another level. After all, fear is a great motivator.

Despite the scoreboard showing a 29-14 victory in favour of Notre Dame, this weeks Kram Game of the Week felt like one of those old-school battles between two heavyweight boxers that resulted in both fighters falling to the canvas after simultaneous punches connected, with only one fighter getting up just before the final bell rings.

Think Rocky vs Clubber Lang in Rocky III.

“The game was a lot closer than what the score showed,” said Pride head coach Dave Diluzio after his team’s hard fought victory. “We knew that they were going to be a tough team and that’s what they were.

“They’re a very, very good football team and we had to play very well to be successful against them.”

The opening half was a classic sew-saw duel with both teams playing smash-mouth football, mostly in or near the middle areas of the field.

On three occasions the Pride’s offense seemed to be getting the upper hand on the stubborn Trojans defense, but each time the Pride were threatening to cross the goal line the Trojans’ defense found a way to keep the bleeding to a minimum.

When the first half was close to expiring, the Pride’s offense had the Trojans pinned deep inside their own end and seemed destined to score the game’s first major, but a series of illegal procedures kept them from putting the first major of the game on the board.

The Pride were forced to settle for field goals, and thanks to the steady leg of kicker Alex Simin they took a 9-0 lead into the half-time break.

The stalemate was blown wide open in the opening moments of the first half.

Thanks to some terrific blocking by the offensive line, Pride’s speedy running back Omokieffe Ogoco exploded through a hole in the Trojans’ defense at the 50-yard line and sprinted to untouched into the end zone to give his team a 16-0 lead.

“We just really wanted to work on the running game and executing,” said Diluzio. “They’re so hard to play because they’re bringing eight, nine, ten guys, they’re blitzing like crazy. We really had to be sound in our pass-protection to give our quarterback the time to throw.”

Soon afterwards, Jimmy Underdahl converted on a quarterback sneak to give his team a seemingly unsurmountable 23-0 lead. The scoring play came after big plays by David Finot, Taylor James and Ogoco, who all contributed huge to the Prides’ most impressive drive of the game.

But the Trojans responded immediately with long drive of their own that was eventually capped of with a two-yard plunge into the end zone by Garret Field.

After both teams traded turnovers at mid-field, first a fumble recovery by Bowness, then an interception by Pride defender Matthew Carpino, Peter Yee busted loose for a 50-yard romp to close out the games’ scoring.

In the end, it was the Prides’ ability to implement and execute a solid game plan on both ends of the football. They got the big plays from their offense when they need them, and their defense kept a potent Trojan offense in check for the majority of the game.

“We just really wanted to work on the running game and executing,” said Diluzio. “They’re so hard to play because they’re bringing eight, nine, ten guys, they’re blitzing like crazy. We really had to be sound in our pass-protection to give our quarterback the time to throw.”

“They have two outstanding backs and a very strong O-line so we really focused on that but I thought they threw the ball really well and I thought their quarterback did a really good job,”

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