Atom Black Raiders win Cup
The Atom Black Chateauguay Raiders defeated the North Shore Roughriders 26-6 to win the MRFL Cup. Courtesy Montreal Regional Football League
The last Chateauguay Raiders team still in playoff contention made the most of their opportunity on Saturday, with the U11 Atom Black team taking down the North Shore Roughriders 26-6 to win the Montreal Regional Football League (MRFL)’s namesake Cup.
Three players from Kahnawake got to experience winning a championship at a young age, with Tucker Jacobs, Oakley Williamson Deere, and Tehona’kara:a Diabo a part of the team.
“All the kids worked extremely hard,” said Joshua Diabo, father of Tehona’kara:a and assistant coach for the team.
He said that the Raiders had a few big injuries on defense and a change at quarterback, which made things challenging for the squad, but they came together, worked hard, established more practice days to spend time together as a team, and overcame these challenges to have a good season.
“We pulled together,” said Joshua.
Last year, the Atom Raiders finished 0-8, and with the team starting the season 0-2, things were looking dire, said Joshua.
That manifested itself through his son, who was feeling down on football after the 10 straight losses.
“He was really losing focus, he didn’t want to play, he was upset, everybody that was on the team last year that had to go through that, they were all upset,” said Joshua
“So for us to work through all those consecutive losses, and win the championship, it was a dream come true.”
After starting 0-2, the Raiders finished the season 5-3. They lost their first playoff game 22-14 against the St. Laurent Spartans, which put them in the running for the MRFL Cup - first round winners get put in the President’s Cup bracket.
They won their semifinals against the Chomedey Blues 60-0 to get to the championship.
The Raiders were dominant in the first half on Saturday, which allowed them to cruise to a convincing win against the Roughriders en route to the MRFL Cup.
For Joshua it was special to be able to share this victory with his son.
“My son, he’s eight years old. We’ve been playing five years. So, for him to accomplish this in five years, it’s crazy, because I played football for 10 years, and I’ve only experienced this once, and I was 15 years old. So, to be to be able to coach him and help him, and then finally get the reward, it means a lot,” said Joshua.
“The kids were going crazy. The kids were so happy. And for the kids who won awards, they have never won awards before. This is their first championship for most of them. It’s a huge accomplishment.”
He said that one thing he tells the players is to think about the sense of accomplishment after practice and games, to feel yourself working hard.
“One thing that I take pride in, is how we feel after the work is done,” said Joshua
And clearly, everyone feels pride about the work they did in the playoffs.
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Shakohahiioste Jack Jacobs (right of centre) will be applying to CEGEP to try and continue his football career. Steve Bonspiel The Eastern Door
LaSalle unsuccessful in semifinals
Offensive lineman Jack Jacobs and the Midget LaSalle Warriors were not able to follow up a solid regular season and a playoff win last week with a semifinals win, as they were defeated by the best regular season team of the Quebec Midget Football League (QMFL), the Lakeshore Cougars, by a score of 37-0.
