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"The Jr. Riders had many changes in the off season, adding two new coaches to our staff was one of them. Pierre Plante would be our new defensive coordinator and Carl Tolmie would become the offensive line coach. They both did an outstanding job with their respective groups.

It was a slow start to the 2009 season but the coaching staff remained optimistic as always and a week before our first game things started to look promising. After three very tough games the Jr. Riders were off to a 3-0 start and at this point the roster grew to sixty players; it was the biggest roster size in six years.

This year’s team was very talented but also very young at the same time. There were some highly touted recruits who were all new additions and became impact players for the team. The Defense boasted Linebacker Sam Sabourin, Rush end Ettore Lattanzio and Corner back Nyjil Wilson and the Offense flaunted Quarterback Leith Fisken, Offensive guard Francesco DeRose and Fullback Peter Mineault.

The team looked for leadership from veterans Adam Gourgon who was the heartbeat of the team, Tyler Meilleur who was the vocal leader of our squad, Jordan Bradely was the motivator for his teammates and Jack Morrison became the voice of reason and earned the respect of his peers. Other Veterans who played major roles for the Jr. Riders were Tim Gull, Belal Taha, Gary Fine, Adam O’Donnell, Zac Ethier and Josh Chartier.

At the half way mark the Jr. Riders were 4-0 after defeating the Raiders with a last minute field goal to come from behind and win
21-20. The team was slowly improving but still lacked team chemistry; this would change after our first loss of the season handed to us by the Devils 11-10 on a last minute field goal.

The coaches ensured the team would learn from this loss and something special began to happen. We began to play as a team; there was energy, compassion and competition. Our focus as a team was getting razor sharp and we finished the season in first place with dominating wins over the Panthers 51-0 and pounded the Monarx 44-0 in our semi final. This win would display how much improvement the team had made from week 3 when we defeated the Monarx 5-0."

Our last week of practice was our best; our players absorbed the game plan and they were confident for their final game against the evenly matched Raiders.

In the first quarter both teams exchanged several drives without any points but the second quarter belonged to us. We jumped out to a 19-0 lead just before the half but left many points on the field which would come back to haunt us in the end. The Raiders blocked a field goal to end the half after a long injury delay.

In the second half we turned the ball over 6 times to give the Raiders some very short fields to work with. It was like we ran into quick sand and the harder we fought to get out of it, the faster we sunk. We leaned on the defense for most of the game and the score was 19-17 late in the fourth quarter. The Raiders never quit and played hard to make the plays they needed to and with 22 seconds remaining the Raiders kicked their last field goal to seal the game.

I am extremely proud of our young team; to see their dramatic improvement this year was very rewarding. They learned how play with discipline, passion, class and most importantly together as a team.

I thank you all for your tremendous effort this season and although we fell short of the championship you conducted yourselves as champions.

To our graduates I wish you all the best in your future endeavors whatever they may be and to all our returning players you now know what it takes for next season.

Special Thanks to our coaches, support staff and executive for your continual dedication and commitment to our football program. It doesn’t happen if not for you!