Irish athleticism too much for Reds

By Bernie Puchalski - October 14, 2021

Tal Ibrahim scored a TD Thursday to help Notre Dame beat Denis Morris 35-0 in senior football action.

If football games were determined by time of possession and successful plays, the Denis Morris Reds senior football team would have emerged from its Thursday game against the visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish with a victory.

But games are obviously determined by scoring and the defending Niagara Catholic Athletic Association champion Irish used five big plays to improve to 2-0 with a 35-0 victory over the Reds (1-2).

“We are making far too many mistakes, we are so undisciplined, we are playing flash and dash and trying to be all swagger and stuff and it’s just not working,” Notre Dame head coach Tim Bisci said. “We don’t look good, we don’t look crisp as a team and we are winning with our athleticism.

“We are just out-athleting teams and that’s a problem.”

One of those athletes is running back Tal Ibrahim, who scored on a 40-yard run, caught a two-point convert and was a hard runner to corral all afternoon.

“He is a helluva running back,” Bisci said. “We missed blocks and he took a beating today. He gets back up, he is as tough as nails, he runs hard and he is fast and elusive. There is a lot of upside there.”

The 18-year-old Ibrahim last played high school football at Saint Paul but moved to Welland to live with his sister. During the COVID pandemic, he trained with David Pow and worked out on the field with Notre Dame quarterback Marshall McCray.

Like all high school student-athletes, Ibrahim had a hard time dealing with losing the 2020 season to COVID.

“It was extremely tough,” he said. “I just persevered through it and kept working to keep up my love for the game.”

That love, passion and talent has attracted attention from Ontario University Athletics scouts and he would love to play at the next level.

“I’ve have been grinding in the weight room and definitely trying to work on my speed as well, get more elusive and get my agility up as well,” the 5-foot-8 175-pounder said.

The 12B student is not the biggest back but he enjoys punishing tacklers at the end of runs.

“I love contact and rocking guys but I also like to juke as well.”

He has one goal for the season.

“I’m just hoping to grind it out and get a championship ring,” said the 2018 Team Ontario member and 2019 Top 90 member.

Notre Dame is unbeaten to start the season but it has been anything but easy for the defending Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association Bowl champions.

“We have taken a ton of injuries and two or three of our better players have gone down in the last couple of weeks,” Bisci said. “It has been tough. You try and get guys in, you try to figure things out but guys are missing practice and they don’t know what they should be doing.

“We are struggling.”

Ibrahim is confident those struggles will end.

“We have work to do but I believe we will get there.”

STATS PACK

Irish 35 Reds 0

BPSN Star of the Game: Tal Ibrahim with a 40-yard rushing TD and two point covert.

For the Notre Dame Fighting Irish: 45-yard TD run by Nick Longo; 54-yard TD run by Marshall McCray; 55-yard TD pass from McCray to Brian Mauvais; 105-yard return for TD on missed field goal by Dashawn Johnson; 40-yard TD run by Ibrahim; two-point convert on pass from McCray to Ibrahim; fumble recovery by Jordan Huggins.

For the Denis Morris Reds: fumble recovery by Chris Paugh; strong game running by Alex Meffe.

Game stats: Net offence: ND 340, DM 207. First downs: ND 10, DM 9. Turnovers: ND 1, DM 4. Penalties: ND 9 for 95 yards, DM 4 for 20 yards.

Up next: Saint Francis is at Notre Dame and Denis Morris is at Saint Paul next Friday at 3 p.m.

Thunder 38 Phoenix 21

The Blessed Trinity Thunder improved to 2-1 in NCAA senior football with a 38-21 victory Tuesday over the visiting Saint Francis Phoenix (0-2).

Leading the way for the Phoenix were: Jayden Gurzi-MacDonald with TD runs of five, 10 and 20 yards; Chase Balice with a pair of five-yard rushing majors; and, Romero Nicolazzo with a 15-yard field goal and five converts.

For the Phoenix: quarterback Jackson Stewart threw TD passes of 50 and 60 yards to Lucas Johnson and Seth McLaughlin; Jamar Baxter had a five-yard rushing major; Nixon Provenzano contributed six tackles; Trent Dobson had four tackles; Enrique Orozco had a fumble recovery; and, Mitchell Flook recorded a special teams fumble recovery.

“I am proud of this young team fighting and slowly coming of age,” head coach Carmine Provenzano said. “We get better every week. The results may not show it but long term, this project will be a successful one.”