They’re back in the game
Things were looking a little dicey for the future of Hamilton high school football back at the end of the last school year.
Sherwood’s coach had to step aside because he could no longer fit games and practices into his work schedule.
Waterdown’s longtime coach had decided to take over the hockey program and felt it was too much to do both.
And Westdale — one of the most-historic programs in the city that spawned Russ Jackson, Ron Howell and others — was teetering with the resignation of its championship-winning coach.
Losing three teams would’ve whittled the top division down to five teams, which would be far from ideal for scheduling and providing a sufficient number of games.
But now that the season has opened, you can breathe deeply again. Normalcy has returned.
“All teams are in,” says athletics program supervisor Mike Grobe.
He says there was some shock when it became public that the three schools were scrambling to find coaches. Grobe says losing three coaches in a single off-season was unprecedented in his six years on the job. But that prompted some volunteers to step up over the summer. Among those was Jamie Sands. In his first year as a math and construction teacher at Waterdown, he decided to take over the program because he’s passionate about football and he didn’t want things to just fade away.
“I don’t want a program to die,” he says.
The former McMaster Marauder — and assistant coach at a number of Hamilton schools — says he started the season coaching alone, but has since found two assistants of his own to make things a little easier.
Sherwood also found a coach, which has allowed them to suit up again.
Westdale was the big one because of how long it’s been around and its tradition of success. Three times in the past five years it had won the public school championship. Ten times overall; 15 other times it’s been the runner-up.
Losing it would’ve not just impacted the kids who wanted to play, but almost certainly would’ve sent a message throughout the city that the sport was in trouble.
“Absolutely it matters,” says incoming coach Mike King.
The 49-year-old went to the school and played football there, even an assistant coach there in the past. But he had no intention of stepping in as coach until he got an emotional phone call from his son — who’s still there — saying there was not going to be a team in the fall because Dave Walters had resigned.
Trouble was, King already coaches rep football, which takes time. And he’d just started a new job that had little flexibility with his hours. But when he proposed a unique two-times-a-week practice schedule at later hours than the traditional right-afterschool, the school gave its thumbs up.
With Westdale’s new natural-grass turf still not ready for use — its first home game is slated for Oct. 12 — they’ve been carting their gear to the HAAA grounds three kilometres away for those practices.
Sherwood opened its season Wednesday. Westdale and Waterdown start Thursday. sradley@thespec.com 905-526-2440 | @radleyatthespec Spectator columnist Scott Radley hosts The Scott Radley Show weeknights at 7-9 on 900CHML.