Late coach a beacon for Knights
St. Thomas More driven to extend perfect record as high school football season winds down
Eight games, six shutouts. That alone makes the St. Thomas More Knights newsworthy. The Burnaby team is one of four or five legitimate contenders for the Subway Bowl Triple A football provincial title this fall, a fact further evidenced by their No. 2 spot in Howard Tsumura’s rankings at varsityletters.ca this week.
Unfortunately, that’s just a small portion of their story. A morsel. They’ve managed all this despite undergoing tragedy.
Longtime STM head coach Bernie Kully died Sept. 30 at age 41. He had esophageal cancer.
“It came at you in waves,” explained Sam Steele, STM’s hardnosed nose tackle. “It doesn’t hit you right away, but it hits you when you start to realize what’s really going on.
“A lot of guys took it pretty hard. Guys have leaned on each other. It’s pushed some guys to do just that little bit more.”
The Knights will be looking to continue that little bit more Saturday, taking their 6-0 regular-season mark and 8-0 overall standing up against the host Mission Roadrunners to finish off the regular season. Then comes playoffs, which will mean even a little bit more of a little bit more.
Whoever gets matched up with the Knights is in for a hard day’s work. In their eight games, STM has given up a mere 27 points, via a 15-8 win over the Terry Fox Ravens and a 24-19 victory against the Lord Tweedsmuir Panthers. In other words, they’ve permitted three touchdowns and two field goals this season. That’s it.
Counting exhibition matchups, Steele and STM defensive end Tyler Eckert are tied for the lead in the province in sacks, both with 13. Go over the STM game sheets, though, and they seem to get contributions from various players every time out.
“It’s like a network,” said Steele. “You’ve got everybody working together as a unit. It’s not an individual. It’s a team. That’s part of the attitude. We have a team mentality. “You have to stay true to yourself and your team. That’s the only way to do it.”
STM head coach Steve De Lazzari added: “It’s speed, physicality and football IQ. You have those three things and you execute and that’s what you get. They are smart, fast and physical kids.”
De Lazzari admits it’s difficult to come up with words to explain how hard this season has been for the Knights and the STM population in general. You likely can’t fathom it from the outside.
The Knights are an easy story to root for, though, as the football season winds down. That’s for certain.
“Coach Kully meant so much to this program and to the school,” said De Lazzari. “His selflessness and his dedication to the students in the classroom and the football players on the field was at another level.
“Last spring, we knew what Coach Kully was facing and I told the players that they should come up with a team chant or motto that’s going to represent what we’re facing. Every time they break from a huddle it’s ‘Together,’ and ‘Family.’ That’s the way they break and that’s what it’s all about.
“That week we had to play Terry Fox, who were the No. 1 ranked team in the province at the time. It was tough. For a lot of these kids, that’s the closet person that they’ve lost in their short lives. They came out and they performed, and I think it was that they knew they wanted to dedicate that game to Coach Kully. And it’s carried over.”
“A lot of guys took it pretty hard. Guys have leaned on each other. It’s pushed some guys to do just that little bit more.” — Sam Steele