Murphy’s law for the Irish
‘Everything that could possibly go wrong today did’
There was no luck for the Irish. Absolutely none.
When the Notre Dame Fighting Irish played the Chaminade Gryphons in the Metro Bowl on Wednesday at Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, the nearest rabbit’s foot — let alone, a fourleaf clover — was in another time zone.
“Everything that could possibly go wrong today did. We didn’t have any luck,” head coach Tim Bisci said after a 47-6 defeat dashed his team’s dream of finishing the season 11-0.
“If you had told me at the beginning of the game that we wouldn’t make a tackle, that we wouldn’t make a block, that we wouldn't make any plays, I would have told you, ‘You’re crazy.’ ” Compounding the lack of lucky bounces — actually, few bounces of any kind — was the rash of injuries that hurt the Irish before they had a chance to find a groove, let alone settle into one.
Jacob Succar, the go-to guy in the Notre Dame backfield and the Niagara Catholic Athletic Association’s offensive player of the year, was the first to be helped to the sideline, where he remained for the rest of the day.
Succar, who suffered a contusion to the knee, was followed in almost rapid-fire fashion by fellow all-stars Gerrid Holton, a defensive lineman, Dylan
Backos, a linebacker, and Will McQueen, an offensive lineman whose shoulder popped out.
“The list went on and on,” said the veteran coach, a Vanier Cup winner in 1991 with Laurier. “You’re only so deep in high school and, all of a sudden, you lose five or six guys who are your guys. It’s tough to bounce back from that.”
On paper, the 36th Metro Bowl featured a battle of unbeaten teams, though one was a lot more battle-tested — and perhaps, much more battleweary — than the other. The Irish (10-0) were playing their second game in eight days; the Gryphons earned a bye to the title game as the Toronto District Catholic Athletic Association after a victory in their last game Nov. 1 improved their record to 5-0.
Chaminade head coach Robin Legault said, while his team has practised nearly every day since their last game, he nonetheless came into the Metro Bowl worried that rust would be a factor, especially against the gametested Fighting Irish.
“Notre Dame has had several good games leading up to this, and we hadn’t played,” Legault said. “But I knew our guys would rally and would show up to play the game. The guys were committed. We knew what our end goal was, and we knew we had to come out and make a statement today.”
While the Irish had films from two Chaminade games, they had a hard time getting an exact read on the Gryphons.
“It was tough to tell. They haven’t played since the end of October. They haven’t been banged up like we have,” Bisci said. “They came out, and they were physical.
“They made plays. They have a couple of kids who are really good players, and their guys made plays,” Bisci added.
“They looked like they been playing a while.”
While Notre Dame hit the turf field at the home of the McMaster Marauders with more wear and tear, Bisci didn’t want that to diminish Chaminade’s accomplishment.
“You can’t take away from what they did,” he said.
“They came out and beat us up today,” Bisci added.
“Our kids played as hard as they could and, at the end of the day, we just never had any luck whatsoever.”
This season’s edition of the Irish fell one win short of becoming the first senior team in the school’s 70-year history to go 11-0, but Bisci said the players had no reason to hang their heads.
“Our guys can’t look down and be worried about one (game). This can’t define them as a group,” he said.
“We won 10 football games. That’s a helluva season,” Bisci said. “We’re SOSSA champions. We’re Niagara champions. We’re the best team in Niagara. No one could touch us in Niagara.”
Chaminade capped off its first possession with a 57-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Jonathan Dimarino to Kenneth Williams.
It led 13-0 after the first quarter and scored five touchdowns in the second for a 47-0 halftime lead.
Notre Dame was scoreless until Hunter Cropper found Bryce Livingston in the end zone with a 21-yard scoring strike 5:02 into the fourth quarter.