THUNDER BAY – Later this season Payton Littleford will join two other Thunder Bay football players at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas to take part in the International Bowl.
For now he’ll stick to dominating the high school junior football circuit – at least if Thursday’s season debut is any indication.
Littleford scored three times on the ground, including runs of nine, 63 and 38 yards, leading the Saints to a 36-22 win over the Westgate Tigers at Fort William Stadium.
The second-year back sat the lion’s share of the second half, after St. Patrick burst out to a 29-0 first half lead, the Tigers unable to combat a Saints running game that also saw Matt Sacino dash in for a touchdown from 29 yards out.
“It was a beautiful first game of the year,” Littleford said afterward. “It was kind of like new feet, fresh legs out there. The whole team was looking good. It’s just a nice way to start off the year.”
Though it was Littleford doing the running, he refused to take credit for any of his scoring plays, crediting his team for opening up the holes he needed to find the space to dash through.
“Honestly, it wasn’t just me or a single thing. It’s a whole team. I was surprised with my team. I thought we were going to come out a little rusty, but that’s not the case. We came out there and we did our job,” he said. “We did a helluva job.”
St. Patrick coach Dave Battistel wasn’t shy heaping praise on his star runner.
“I think it certainly shows that he’s an all-Canada pro candidate,” Battistel said. “He’s just a fantastic running back and that’s just natural talent. He’s a big strong kid and it shows on the field.
“His vision, his runs, his power – he’s just a great talent.”
While the win wasn’t perfect – the Tigers scored three times in the second half with mostly Saints reserves on the field – it’s the type of start the veteran coach was looking for.
“It’s great. The last couple of years we haven’t really started well, so it’s really good for us to get out of the gates and set the tone with a win for the rest of the season,” he said. “But you’ve got to hand it to Westgate. They played a great game.”
The Tigers second-half resurgence was fuelled in part by the rushing efforts of Jacob Jones, who ran one in from 12 yards out, added a second five-yard scoring run and hauled in a nine-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Jarek Jesperson.
“It was our first game. We have a lot of rookies, a lot of people who haven’t played. The first half we were just getting ready and I think we did really good in the second half,” Jones said.
St. Pat’s Jordan Malench closed out the scoring with a 42-yard TD run midway through the fourth.
Hammarskjold 10, St. Ignatius 0: Caleb Mangoff scored a first-quarter touchdown and the VIkings ended the five-time defending champion's 31-game winning streak that dated back to 2011.
