Chippewa’s junior football program handling the first-year blues

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Ryan McGowan knew Chippewa’s first year back in NDA (Nipissing District Athletics) junior football was not going to be a walk in the park and it hasn’t been.

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McGowan walked off Mike O’Shea Field on Thursday after his team lost its third straight game, this time 48-6 to the Saint Joseph-Scollard Hall Bears.

Another byproduct of the return to football after a six-year absence is dealing with injuries.  McGowan says all the practice in the world doesn’t prevent a coach being forced to position players in new spots after in-game injuries.  It’s hard enough teaching them the basics of one position when they are then thrust into a new position.

“We are still putting players into different spots.   Injuries and illness forced us to put players into positions they have never played before. I’m so proud of these kids for jumping into a spot they haven’t played before,” says McGowan.   “They haven’t prepared for this, they don’t know where to go or what to do.  These players are still is going to do whatever they can to help the team.”

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Despite three lopsided losses, McGowan says his players haven’t given up and the team hasn’t seen any defections because of the tough year the Ravens have endured.

“We have had a lot of players develop, which is so exciting. Lineman are coming along, we are still tweaking players (skill sets).  Once we settle in, and I hope that will be in our next game.  We make the playoffs no matter what, so by then I’m really hoping to have the team (and the players) really ‘cemented’ in to see what we can do,” says McGowan.

As expected, a first-year teams like Chippewa are often their own worst enemy.

“We are hurting ourselves,” says McGowan.   “Whether it is penalties or a wrong (player) alignment, it is a problem.  On our opening drive, we had some momentum, and then we had a fumble. We get a couple of first downs, then comes an interception.  Little mistakes like that are just killing us.”

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The team hasn’t won on the field yet but off the field they had a trip to remember when the Chippewa juniors went to a CFL game in Hamilton.

“We just went to a Tiger-Cat game versus the (Winnipeg Blue) Bombers.  We saw (Bombers head coach and North Bay native) Mike O’Shea.  He chatted with the team and he had us out on the field before the game. Our quarterback was out throwing the ball around with the (Tiger-Cats) players. After the game our kids got to go on to the field and throw the ball around,” says the Chippewa head coach.

(North Bay’s own Mike O’Shea meeting Chippewa players at recent Blue Bombers-Tiger-Cats game-FACEBOOK)

McGowan says the whole experience had a profound effect on him and his players.

“You see them falling in love with the game and, above anything else, it is something I am so proud of,”
says McGowan.

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Luke Fiddler was the quarterback who got to toss the pigskin around with the pros.  Fiddler admitted he was a little pessimistic about the team this year but despite the losses he says he’s in a good place right now.

“To be honest, I came into the season with a bad mentality, but now we have grown so much as a team I feel we have gotten so much better.  At the start of the season I wasn’t having fun and now I am having fun,” says Fiddler describing how everything changed.  “The attitude and the mentality (is better), we have a great group of guys here.”

Chippewa finishes the regular season next week taking on another team that returned to NDA football this year after a long absence, the Franco-Cite Patriotes.  Franco and Chippewa are both looking for their first win next week.

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