Woodstock St. Mary’s junior football Warriors‘get up again’

A pair of St. Mary’s Warriors tacklers bring down a Strathroy runner. (Jeff Tribe Photo)

Jeff Tribe, Echo Correspondent

Tubthumping’s 1997 release preceded any of the current Woodstock St. Mary’s Warriors junior football team members’ birth dates.

However, the players did live up to the Chumbawamba hit’s thematic ‘get knocked down, but get up again,’ chorus through a 35-0 Thames Valley Regional Athletics season-opening defeat to the Strathroy DCI Saints Sept. 24 at Woodstock College Avenue.

It was the first game for a lot of junior Warriors said coach Jeff Almeida, a lot of first times getting hit, ‘getting knocked down.’

“And they they got up and go, ‘I’m OK,’” he continued.

The first half featured a bit of shock and awe, Almeida continued, before a ‘switch turned’ in the second half.

“We can play, we can play.”

St. Mary’s fullback/defensive lineman Mike Anastasiadis runs about 5’11”, 215, maybe 220 pounds, solid by any standards, however not large when compared to the Saints, both numerically and physically.

“Big team, big team,” he said.

Strathroy had “stuff going on, some plays,” Anastasiadis credited, operating behind large and talented offensive and defensive lines.

“(But) heck, first game of the season for us. First game for a lot of these guys playing football.

“I’m proud of the boys, they played their best. We did what we could, we have a lot to learn but I’m excited for the season, see what we can do.”

“It’s a learning process,” agreed Warriors quarterback Callum Lawton, a Jordan Love fan who lists himself at 5’1”.

“On a good day,” laughed teammate Jackson Roberts. “With cleats.”

“As long as we try our best,” continued Lawton, who like many teammates, was in his first competitive football game.

Roberts recorded his team’s defensive highlight, an end zone ‘pick’ resulting from ‘lurking’ in the back corner out of sight of the Saints’ QB.

“The ball went over him (the intended receiver) and I caught it.”

Almeida referred to that moment in his post-game message, part of a much-improved second half, ‘little things’ that start to embed and foster collective improvement.

“It starts tomorrow,” added Warriors coach Cheddi Achan. “The sun comes up, go to school and come to practice.”

Games have two outcomes says Almeida, winning or learning, with the season-opener falling into the latter category.

“Now we know what we’re up against, and hopefully we can go to work. Our focus is always the next game, the next game. What do we need to do?

“Today we learned, we’re going to get better.”