Irish cruise to Niagara Bowl victory

By Bernie Puchalski - November 18, 2021

The Notre Dame Fighting Irish senior football team rode the powerful running of Tal Ibrahim and Marshall McCray to an impressive 36-7 victory over the A.N. Myer Marauders in the Niagara Bowl Thursday night at Kiwanis Field in St. Catharines.

Quarterback McCray, the most punishing runner in Niagara high school football, scored three touchdowns on the night but it was 12B running back Ibrahim who did most of the heavy lifting. The 18-year had 18 carries for 149 yards and scored two touchdowns as part of a most impressive performance.

Notre Dame’s plan all along was to put the game in Ibrahim’s hands and feet.

“I told him we were going to run the ball with him and he better be ready,” Notre Dame head coach Tim Bisci said. “I just thought we could be physical with them.”

Ibrahim was the perfect choice to lead that physicality.

“He is tough as nails,” Bisci said. “His yards after contact are unbelievable. You look at him and he is not the biggest of kids but he starts running the ball and he bounces and spins through and it’s like ‘Where did he come from?’ It is second and five and he gets 15.”

When Ibrahim was told early in the week he would be carrying the load against Myer, he was up for the challenge.

“I was just motivated this game” the former Team Ontario member said. “Myer is a powerhouse and they were ranked No. 2 (in Ontario) so I was ready and very excited.”

The 5-foot-8, 175-pounder comes by his powerful running honestly.

“It is working hard in the offseason and being a beast. I have a trainer, David Pow, and he helped me out a lot.”

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Niagara Junior Bowl tackled by Irish

By Bernie Puchalski - November 18, 2021

The deciding points in the Niagara Junior Bowl came down to a 32-yard field goal by Dylan Correia early in the fourth quarter Thursday at Kiwanis Field.

The kick gave the unbeaten Niagara Catholic Athletic Association champion Notre Dame Fighting Irish a 17-15 victory over the previously unbeaten Niagara Region High School Athletic Association champion A.N. Myer Marauders.

“It was awesome. He could kick a 45-yard one if we needed it,” Notre Dame head coach Rob Moschella said. “He is great and that was the difference in the game.”

He had full confidence in Correia making the field goal.

“We practise that every day and we came early today to practise it as well. He didn’t have too many chances this year but I told him he would today.”

Moschella was thrilled with the performance on his squad.

“They are an awesome team,” he said. “They worked hard all year. We had a lot of injuries and we came back through it all and we came back from adversity like we did tonight. We never gave up and all the hard work and effort they put in this year made the difference.

“That (Myer) was a helluva team and this is a helluva team.”

Myer fought hard right to the last whistle. The Marauders had the ball on their own 34-yard line with 1:53 left in the game and managed to get all the way to the Notre Dame 35-yard line with 16 seconds in the game. Out of timeouts, a 42-yard field goal by Myer was blocked by Notre Dame’s Nolan Hemauer to preserve the victory.

“It was a great game,” Myer head coach Jamie French said. “I was looking forward to it and thought it would be that way.”

The defeat didn’t take away from a great season by Myer.

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Thursday, Nov 18 - Niagara Bowl Championship games

The Niagara Bowl Championship games will be held at the Kiwanis Field in St. Catharines on Thursday, November 18, 2021.

• The Junior Football final featuring Notre Dame vs A.N. Myer will kick off at 4 pm.
• The senior football final featuring Notre Dame vs A.N. Myer will kick off at 7 p.m.

Please complete the mandatory assessment at the link below. Please print or screen shot the completed assessment as you will be asked to show this prior to entering the stands.

https://flow.page/notredamecollegeschool

Limitations:

1. Limited number of tickets available on a first come, first served basis. 4 ticket maximum.
2. Proof of purchase must be provided to enter the event.
3. We would ask all spectators to please adhere to public health guidelines.

The links to purchase tickets are below:

Junior Final Link

Senior Final Link

 We would like to remind all Junior spectators to exit in a timely manner at the end of the game

Irish capture NCAA football crown

By Bernie Puchalski - November 12, 2021

Notre Dame’s 30-10 victory over Saint Paul Friday in the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association senior football final is the poster child for the final score not being indicative of the type of game that was played.

Saint Paul had 12 first downs compared to Notre Dame’s seven and the Patriots had a 241-183 advantage in net yards gained from scrimmage. But the defending NCAA champion Fighting Irish were able to survive the scare by forcing a fumble at their own one-yard line and producing a 109-yard interception return for a touchdown that closed out the scoring late in the fourth quarter.

The stiff challenge provided by the Patriots came as no surprise to Notre Dame head coach Tim Bisci.

“They battle, he keeps them motivated and he does all those things that need to be done,” he said. “We were beating teams up and it’s not even close and I am sitting at home stressing like crazy because I know what he (Saint Paul head coach Rick Oreskovich) is going to give us. Hats off to him because he is always going to give you his best and his best is always pretty good.”

Bisci has come to expect that from Oreskovich.

“It is a cliche all the time when you guys ask about the other team and I say they are well-coached. That is an understatement when it come to Rick,” he said. “He is the dean in our league and he is probably the dean in Niagara. He has been doing it for 30 years and it doesn’t matter who he has. He gets the most talent out of his kids and it is a salute to him that he can do it year in and year out.”

Friday’s performance was far from Notre Dame’s best in 2021.

“We were undisciplined,” Bisci said of his team’s 11 penalties for 100 yards “There was one drive where we were up 20-1 and once we got the ball we did nothing but take penalties and we were back 60 yards. We ended up giving them a score out of the deal.”

As usual Notre Dame was sparked by big plays from its best players. Dayshawn Johnson had a 60-yard fumble recovery for a score in the third quarter that was called back to midfield because of a penalty on the return and then the Grade 12 player iced the game late in the fourth quarter with a 109-yard pick six.

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Welland teen awarded time with the Super Locker

By Kris DubéTribune Reporter - Nov. 5, 2021

Mckenna Chase has plenty of room to store her belongings for the next month at Notre Dame College School.

The Grade 12 student is the Welland high school’s first tenant of a new “Super Locker,” standing about six feet high, five feet wide, in a prime location close to the cafeteria.

Principal Andrew Boon, new to Notre Dame in September, started the initiative with former Lakeshore Catholic High School principal Glenn Gifford about four years ago when they created the first over-sized locker for a deserving student.

When Boon moved on to Holy Cross and Gifford to St. Michael’s, they both kept the tradition alive, as Boon has also done at Notre Dame.

On Friday, Chase was handed the key to the Super Locker, crafted by construction students at Notre Dame.

She has the honour of being the first person to hang her coat in it, for her efforts helping a Welland family, the Ogunkoyas, who have faced deportation to Nigeria for more than two years.

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