Unfamiliar territory

Success and St. Ignatius have never really gone hand in hand in senior football.

The school has yet to win a championship – unless one wants to count the 1960 crown won by Lakeview High School, St. Ignatius’ predecessor.

Things are looking up for the Falcons in 2013.

Coming off a junior title in 2012, the senior team has rolled to four straight wins to start the season, the latest a 64-6 thumping of the Superior Collegiate Gryphons, a win fuelled by Liam Fors, who rushed for 93 yards and two scores on the ground and catching TD receptions of 44 and 15 yards.

Jake Puskas added a pair of rushing touchdowns, running for 142 yards on the afternoon.

“We’re coming out pretty strong and confident,” said Puskas, who put the icing on the winning cake with a 54-yard dash to the end zone midway through the fourth at Fort William Stadium.

“We’ve been working hard improving things in every game.”

It helps there seems to be more interest in the team this fall.

In recent years the school struggled to find players to come out, and the results showed. A year ago they finished 1-6, a notch below the 2-4-1 mark they posted in 2011.

“This is the first season that our senior team has had this many people come out and there’s been some actual commitment. I think that’s helping out a lot,” said Puskas, who is starting to draw the attention of college coaches on both sides of the border.

Falcons coach Tyler Dennis said he couldn’t have asked for a better start.

“We’re very excited. I don’t know if it’s the first time, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had a start like this. It’s definitely been a long time for us to get there. But we’re working toward our goal. I know we’re 4-0, but we’re not done yet,” Dennis said. “We’ve got a long way to go before playoffs.”

A game like Thursday’s, that also included Wyler Dawd’s 107-yard, is a great confidence boost, Dennis said.

But he doesn’t want his players reading too much into the win.

“That was our approach this week, to stay focused mentally and physically be ready for a really good challenge next week against Westgate, keep our guys healthy and hungry for our goal,” Dennis said.

Still, he was happy with the way they played, never letting up while not pushing to run up the score.

“I always told the guys of the dangers of an undefeated team and an  0-3 team and losing your focus and things happening. But we practiced our execution all week and that’s what we strived to do. And it really worked out well for us,” he said.

St. Ignatius outgained the Gryphons 461 yards to 27 and sacked Superior quarterback Thomas Stadey three times.

Superior’s lone score came in the first quarter on a 21-yard pass from Stadey to Cameron Nahkala.