Notre Dame’s Moretto pays tribute
Jugglers QB honours his grandparents and a respected teacher with team’s victory
He’s helped to lead the rebirth of Jugglers football, but in doing so, senior quarterback Steven Moretto has done something even greater.
He’s taken time to remember the past, and to honour those who have affected both his life and the lives of those around him in the tight huddle of his East Vancouver community, the one that is home to Notre Dame Regional Secondary.
Last Saturday, in his team’s 27-10 Subway Bowl quarter-final win over archrival Vancouver College, Moretto sprinted 55 yards into the end zone for the game’s defining touchdown, and then almost immediately, raised the index finger of his left hand and pointed to the heavens.
“It’s for my grandmother and grandfather, who passed away when I was young,” Moretto said after Saturday’s win, one which carries the Jugglers into Saturday’s semifinal round under the dome against the New Westminster Hyacks (5 p.m.).
“But it’s also for Mr. Brassington. When he passed away it was a huge loss to our high school and our football program.”
John Brassington, who lived the tenets of dedication, loyalty and faith through a multi-generational career as a multi-sport coach at Notre Dame, lost his life at age 65 this past April in an automobile accident.
“A couple of days before I left for Florida, we sat down and just talked for about 45 minutes,” said Moretto, a member of the Canadian junior national baseball team who will play collegiately at NCAA Div. 1 Sacramento State next season.
“A couple of days into the trip, he passed away. I’ve known him since I was five. My brother and his son played baseball and football together.”
A victory this Saturday over the Hyacks would send the Jugglers to their first senior varsity provincial final since they won it all, back in 1993.
And so for Moretto, whose dad Rob is both a program alum and a member of the coaching staff, pulling on his Jugglers game-day jersey brings an added responsibility of both maintaining honour and paying homage.
“Right now, I am just leaving everything on the field when it comes to these games because of what it means me, my family, the guys in the locker-room, the alumni and everyone who goes to our school,” he said, his voice still pulsing after the Jugglers beat the Irish for the second straight time, the first coming two weeks prior in the 60th annual Archbishops Trophy regularseason finale.
“I have been on the sideline for every Archbishops Cup game since I was five, and I can’t ever actually remember us winning,” Moretto added, referencing the fact that this season’s 21-7 victory on Nov. 4 snapped a 12-year drought in the series.
“So I understand the whole concept of this rivalry. It’s been bred into me, and when you grow up in my family you learn pretty quickly who the other guys over there in purple-and-gold are.”
And now comes the next chapter, a clash with a deep, dangerous and incredibly resilient New Westminster team, which itself has never played in a B.C. senior varsity final.
Moretto gets the largest share of his team’s attention, but this is a kid who thrives on walking lockstep with his teammates.
The Jugglers head coach Richard Scott put it best when he said: “This is a team. A real team. A bunch of guys who show up every day.”
Moretto is honoured to be one of them, and even when individual success has shone his way, he’s done the right thing. He’s pointed the way. “I know my grandparents are looking down on me. And Mr. Brassington is, too,” he said. “We’re dedicating our season to him.”