THUNDER BAY – Nolan Poirier wasn’t sure how far he’d run as he stumbled across the goal line to give the St. Ignatius Falcons a 14-0 lead.
He only knew it was a long way.
“Ninety-two yards? I was thinking it was more like 70 yards or something,” said Poirier, after he returned a second-quarter punt the distance, taking off from his own 18-yard line and scampering down the left side of the St. Patrick High School field for the major.
It proved to be the difference in the Falcons 22-6 triumph as they opened the high school junior football season in winning fashion, downing the two-time defending league champion St. Patrick Saints on their home turf.
“The kick came up and I thought it was going to the other guy and as soon as I saw it curve over, I saw it hit the ground and it bounced up. When I picked it up, I started running to the left side and I noticed I was going by everyone. All of a sudden there was a guy coming from the inside of the field. I asked one of my other teammates to go block him as I was running.”
The touchdown was nice, but the win was a lot more important in the scheme of things, Poirier said.
“Coach said it’s been a while since we beat these guys. He said it’s been about two years since we beat them, so it feels really good to at least give us an edge on the other team,” Poirier said.
The Falcons (1-0), who never trailed, took the lead on their opening drive, marching down the field in just over five minutes, Quinton Dawd barrelling into the end zone for an early 7-0 advantage.
Both teams showed plenty of rust, especially after the 2020 campaign was lost, making it the first high school action for most, if not all, of the players.
For the Falcons, it was ball control they struggled with early.
St. Ignatius turned the ball over on their second and third possessions, the first at the edge of the red zone, the second giving the Saints the ball on the Falcons 43.
St. Patrick, however, was unable to take advantage of either turnover.
“Our defence did come up strong when we needed them to and our offence played quite well too,” said St. Ignatius coach Martin Furtado.
The Saints, who struggled to move the ball, appeared to be ready to break the goose egg early in the third, driving deep into Falcons territory. But on a third-down-and-goal play from the St. Ignatius four-yard line, quarterback Tom Hardie was driven out of bounds at the one, the ball going back to the Falcons on downs.
Pinning St. Ignatius deep eventually worked in St. Patrick’s favour, thanks to a botched snap on a punt that gave the Saints the ball on their opponent’s 13.
It led to St. Patrick's lone score on the day. Eighteen seconds into the fourth, Nathan Sacino chugged up the middle for a four-yard touchdown, cutting the Saints deficit to 14-6.
St. Ignatius put the game away later in the final frame when Angelo Martino punched it in from one-yard out.
“It feels good,” Dawd said. “We have a really good defence and they’re the rivals we want to get.”
Hammarskjold 8, Westgate 7: Nolen Sloan booted a fourth-quarter rouge to break a 7-7 tie with under a minute to play. Owen Renn had an 80-yard rushing touchdown for the Vikings in the first. Lance Basalyga tied it for Westgate in the second on a one-yard run.
