Saints dynasty continues with yet another title win
The St. Peter’s Saints boys lacrosse dynasty keeps marching on after the retirement of its longtime head coach.
Under Rod McGillis, the Saints won the COSSA/Kawartha AAA title 21 of 23 seasons. Mike Martone, who apprenticed as McGillis’s assistant coach, has taken over the head coaching role and on Wednesday guided the Saints to a 5-1 win over the Thomas A. Stewart Griffins in the COSSA/Kawartha AAA final at St. Peter Catholic Secondary School.
The Saints advance to the OFSAA AAA Festival on June 4 and 5 in Georgetown. It will be the third straight OFSAA for the bulk of the team, which has been together since high school sports returned in 2022 after the COVID-19 pandemic. The Saints earned a silver medal in 2022 and placed fifth in ’23.
“We have a lot of young guys Roddy and I took on in their Grade 9 year,” said Martone. “They’re now in their Grade 11 and 12 years and we’ve been very fortunate to bring them along as part of our program. They’re at the top of their game now.”
In sweltering heat and humidity, the Saints ran up a 4-1 first-half lead and scored the only goal of the second half. Hayden Addison and Reed Chamberlain scored two goals each, while Nick Fournier added one and goalie Geordy Addison was stellar. Colby Wood had the Griffins’ lone goal while Gavin Hill was also strong.
“Our defence played really well,” said Martone. “Brayden D’Innocenzo, Lucas Tataryn and Ryland Wilson were solid players who are our leaders back there. Geordy made the stops when he had to. I thought it was a big difference keeping their players to the outside. Colby Wood is the best high school lacrosse player around here and they made it tough on him. Hats off to TASSS. They have a great team and we’ve had great battles.”
Nole Faulkner was dominant on faceoffs and Geordy Addison said that really helps when you start each play with the ball.
“Nole kept getting the ball and holding possession. Our defence did a great job keeping everyone outside,” he said.
He felt the heat played a role in keeping it low scoring.
“Everyone was getting slow because they were exhausted,” he said.
He said they are excited to have another crack at OFSAA. “We have a good team that is capable of getting to the final,” said Addison.
The Griffins reached the final by defeating the Cobourg Collegiate Wolves, 10-5, in Friday’s semifinal and their lone losses came to St. Peter’s.
“A lot of these boys I’ve coached in hockey, lacrosse and football since Grade 9 and about seven of them are graduating,” said Griffins coach Jeff Ralph. “I couldn’t be more proud of this team. It’s on and off the field in how these boys conduct themselves. The maturity they show and the sportsmanship and teamwork. I thought we laid it all out there. We played great defensively and hats off to St. Peter’s. That is a great lacrosse team over there. They have firepower all over the field, Geordy Addison in net and that defence. I wish them all the best at OFSAA and I hope they bring home the gold medal.”
Ricky Bevan is one of those graduating Griffins.
“I was pretty happy with how we played,” said Bevan. “We’ve never beat St. Pete’s before. Our mentality coming in was that it was probably our last game but let’s have fun. We know all these guys on St. Pete’s, and let’s try our best.
“I’ve played with all these guys since I was a little kid and it’s tough that this is the end,” added Bevan. “But I’ve enjoyed every minute.”