Tigers land in final

Cody Sheedy had a rough time hanging onto the ball on Thursday night, but kept possession of it when it counted most.

The Westgate Tigers running back plowed the ball into the end zone from five yards out late in the second quarter for the only major of the game, vaulting the Tigers into next weekend’s junior high school football final.

Westgate managed a rouge in the final seconds of the contest to earn the 8-0 win over Sir Winston Churchill.

Sheedy, who ran for 57 yards, but fumbled the ball twice to hand the ball back to the Trojans, is ready to put this one in the past.
“It just feels great to be able to put it in,” said Sheedy, soaked to the skin on a night when winter felt like it was settling in for an extended Thunder Bay visit.

“They were a good team, they played great and gave us a run for our money.”

The Tigers, who have scored 124 points and only allowed 16 in their remarkable run, are all about the perfect run this season, having won their sixth game in as many attempts.

“Gotta keep it alive,” Sheedy said. “We’ve got to play our hardest. When we do our job right, we get wins.”

Beating the Trojans to get to the junior final makes it all that sweeter, he added.

“It feels amazing to beat a team that beat us last year,” Sheedy said, noting it will take a hard week of practice to keep the momentum going.

Momentum is something coach Pat Smykalski wishes the Tigers had heading into the semfinal match. Westgate, by virtue of its 6-0 finish, and second-place St. Ignatius earned first-round byes, something Smykalski would like to see changed in future years.
It’s too hard for the teams to avoid becoming rusty he said, pointing to Sheedy’s miscues. Other than the drops, there wasn’t much for Smykalski to complain about, he said.

“Defensively, we’re really happy with the way the guys played. Offensively, we still moved the ball pretty well on them. We probably didn’t capitalize, especially our first drive of the game,” Smykalski said.

On that drive the Tigers marched inside the Churchill 10-yard line, but Sheedy was stopped in the backfield on third and one, ending the drive.

The two teams played a scoreless first quarter, and were back-and-forth in the second until Sheedy plunged in for the score eight-and-a-half minutes in.

It was much the same in the third and fourth quarter, with neither Churchill, who gained just three first downs all game, nor Westgate, able to mount much of an offensive attack.

Used to blowing out teams, Smykalski nonetheless said he wasn’t surprised how tough the Trojans played them.

“We played them in our first game of the year and we knew with their coaching staff that there would be steady improvement and that’s exactly what happened.”

The Tigers will play No. 3 St. Patrick in next Saturday's final. The Fighting Saints got 100 yards and two scores from halfback Drew Meady on Thursday and knocked off the St. Ignatius Saints 27-7 in the other semifinal.