Raiders make finals

Two Chateauguay Raiders teams will be playing championship games this weekend in Saint-Leonard.

The Peewee team will face the St. Leonard Cougars at Hébert Stadium on Sunday at 3 p.m. in the President’s Cup.

“I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing these kids win a championship, because they deserve it,” said Kevin Wyeth, head coach of the Peewee Raiders and president of the Chateauguay Minor Football Association.

“It was just an amazing season. They went through the whole season not giving up, never folding to anybody.”

Kahnawa’kehró:non Kirk Horne is the starting centre for the Raiders, and his mother, Lisa Fazio, has watched every minute of her son’s team.

“I go to every single one of his games with his grandparents and his dad. We’re his biggest supporters,” said Fazio.

While Horne would like to eventually play on the defensive line – he said his favourite part of football is tackling – he appreciates playing centre, as does his coach.

“For the past two years, he's been great. He's just so coachable. The kid listens to everything you say, he never gives you attitude, he never gives you issues,” said Wyeth.

Wyeth added that while offensive line might seem like an unglamorous position, it’s one of the most important on the field, especially the centre.

“Everything rides on him. He's got to give our quarterback the ball. He's got to protect the middle of field,” said Wyeth.

Horne's mother said that watching the team from the stands this year has proven to be both exciting and nerve-racking – particularly in the playoffs.

“The games are very back and forth,” said Fazio. "They're a strong team, but a lot of the other teams are just as strong throughout the playoffs. They have been really close games.”

Their semifinals game against the Lakeshore Cougars on October 26 ended up being a close one, with the Raiders needing to make a comeback in the final few minutes.

“We were basically neck and neck for a certain amount of time,” said Wyeth.

But Lakeshore took the lead in the third quarter, and Chateauguay found itself down 10 with a little more than two minutes to go in the final quarter.

“We pulled out a trick play. It worked, we scored, and we got within three points,” said Wyeth.

The Raiders attempted an onside kick to recover the ball, but this failed, and Lakeshore regained possession, with the opportunity to take a lot of time off the clock.

After the first down, a running play, Wyeth called a timeout to stop the clock.

Then, for reasons Wyeth still does not understand, Lakeshore attempted a pass, stopping the clock for them in the process.

Once Chateauguay regained possession, there were about 90 seconds left on the clock – which ended up being plenty of time for them to score.

“We ran a sweep play with our running back, and he broke through everybody and scored again, with one minute left on the clock,” said Wyeth.

The Cougars were not able to score in that last minute, and the Raiders secured the 35-30 win.

The Peewee Raiders finished their regular season with a 7-1 record.

But Wyeth still believes that they will be playing the role of David to St. Leonard's Goliath on Sunday.

“We are the smaller team, and we're facing a massive team right now,” said Wyeth. “We're working on it. We should hopefully we come up with a victory.”

As part of preparation for the finals, Wyeth said that they will have practice four times this week, instead of the usual two, as well as watching game film of Saint-Leonard to get to know how they play their game.

The other finals-bound Chateauguay team is the Mosquito Raiders Black. After an “up and down” season, according to Wyeth, they will be playing in the lower cup of the Montreal Regional Football League on Saturday at 3 p.m. in St. Leonard, facing the Lakeshore Cougars.

Several players from the community joined the Raiders this year. Silas White, Rawera’tarihà:tha Bauersfeld, and Hoǹigoñhewa:neñh Lahache-Brant were on the Mosquito Raiders Silver, who did not advance to the playoffs.

Meanwhile, the Bantam Raiders will face the Sun Youth Hornets in the semifinals of their President’s Cup today, November 1, in Chateauguay at 8 p.m. Locals Aidan Davies and Wolf-Hendrix Beauchamp are on the roster.

The other Raiders team to reach the playoffs were the Atom Raiders Black, who were defeated by the Lasalle Warriors Red on October 26. Tucker Jacobs, Waylon Charles, and Tehona’kara:a Diabo played in Atom for the Raiders this year.

Finally, Halen Scott played for the Tykes Raiders, the youngest age group in Quebec football.

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