If there are any bolts to be tightened or tweaks to be made, Friday night is the last chance for the #CFC50 ranked No.13 St. Roch Ravens as they face off against the #CFC50 ranked No. 20 Resurrection Phoenix in their final pre-season game at Ching Park.
Looking back at the No.13 Ravens first pre-season game, there weren’t any noticeable cracks in the armour as they walked away with a relatively easy 42-0 victory over Lakeshore. With a highly ranked team like No. 20, Resurrection billed for their final pre-season game, however, the script will be a bit different Friday night and should be a much better indicator of just how good St. Roch may be in 2016. Looking to defend their OFSAA Bowl title from last season, Ravens’ Co-Head Coach Neil Majoros expects his team to benefit from facing a championship calibre school before the real season begins,
“The benefits that our team can take away from playing an OFSAA winning team like Resurrection will be for our players to be able to compete and adjust to their physicality and speed, that will hopefully prepare us for our regular season next week.”
With a new cast of players trying to fill the holes left on last year’s depth-chart, St. Roch Co-Head Coach John Beresford plans on getting their younger players as much playing time as possible against Resurrection to help ease the transition from junior to senior football,
“We are a young team with some players who will be starting at the senior level in some key positions for the first time, and the more live reps in pressure situations that they face, the better they will hopefully play when the games count in the standings.”
While Friday night’s game won’t count against either team’s record, both squads will be looking to put their best foot forward with the regular season right around the corner. With a long training camp in the books and their focus set on Resurrection and the season ahead, Majoros is pleased with where his team is at and hopes to build off their success against Lakeshore heading into the season with a bit of momentum,
“The team had a productive training camp and after a first quarter versus Lakeshore with a number of correctible penalties, the offense and defense found a nice groove to close out their first game of the season. As for as how we will approach the game, we will look to build on what we accomplished last week and sure up some timing, route running and blocking assignments.”
Some players to keep an eye will be quarterback Deandre Rose who returns for his final season as the starter at St. Roch, and will lead a receiving corps that went for over 200 yards versus Lakeshore. Another player who made some noise against in the first pre-season game was Lesean Betton, who took an interception back to the house as a part of a very impressive defensive performance by the Ravens as whole.
With Resurrection representing St. Roch’s final chance to tie up any lose ends before the live action begins, Beresford knows it is important for his team to perform at a high level Friday night, but he also recognizes there is a long season ahead where there will be plenty of time to improve before having to defend their title in the fall,
“There is still plenty to improve on and hopefully we will continue to learn and grow as a football team heading towards our first game versus St Augustine on September 23rd.”
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