Warriors go on local shopping spree
WATERLOO — The University of Waterloo gridiron Warriors loaded up their shopping carts with local produce in the off-season.
The shop-until-you-drop Warriors scooped up nine Waterloo Region recruits, including seven all-stars from the local high school leagues like: District 8 MVP, St. David quarterback Justin Henderson; Conrad Henden, a running back from the Sir John A. Macdonald Highlanders; and heavily-recruited Resurrection Phoenix defensive lineman Michael Perak.
The team unveiled its 38-member recruiting class at a recent on-campus ceremony.
“The theme always for us is secure in your own backyard. I think we’ve been doing a good job of that,” third-year head coach Chris Bertoia said of the Warriors local shopping spree.
“Sometimes our region doesn’t get enough credit (from university recruiters) for the players and their abilities.”
The Warriors also got bigger, faster and more athletic in the off-season, in an effort to close the gap between themselves and the top dogs in the Ontario University Athletics conference — Laurier and Western.
Last season, UW trudged through a second straight winless season. In 2016, the program was outscored 435-77 through eight cruel losses.
The club stumbled to the worst offensive output in Canadian university football, a lacklustre 9.6 points per game scored, and surrendered a nation-worst 54.4 points per outing.
It was the 13th straight season the Warriors, who’ve won exactly four games through the past seven years, have missed the playoffs.
To be fair, this past season the baby-faced Warriors regularly went with 30 or more freshmen on their 55-man dress roster.
Their average age to begin the campaign was a youthful 18.8 years, a tall order for a league
dominated by teams with a surplus of fifth-year seniors.
None of that seemed to scare away top-flight talent such as new recruit Henderson, a virtual oneman band for St. David.
“The (Warriors) coaching staff is so set for a goal,” explained Henderson, a three-sport athlete and versatile quarterback, defensive back and kicker/punter with the grid Celtics. “And that goal is to win.
“We really want to turn some heads,” added Henderson, who will major in legal studies at UW in the fall.
All those youngsters will all come of age eventually, Bertoia said.
“You can’t really crown a recruiting class until they get to Year 3. But we are definitely excited about a lot of the pieces we have in this recruiting class.”
On Thursday, the Warriors will cross the street for an integrated practice with the defending Yates Cup champion Laurier Golden Hawks who are to announce their recruiting class earlier in the day.
Other local recruits set to suit up with the Warriors this August are: OL Spencer Andrews (KCI); OL Riley Vandehogan (St. David); receivers and Kitchener natives Gordon Lam and Barnaba Niel (who both attended a prep school in St. Catharines, Royal Imperial Collegiate of Canada); DB Muyang Iluya (Resurrection); and OL Alex Carrillos (KCI).
The Warriors’ 2017 draft class also features a dozen OFSAA Bowl champs, 19 league champions, three OVFL winners and nine team captains.
“I’m super excited right now. The season can’t come soon enough,” said Bertoia.
“We will trust in the process. It takes time. If we do things the right way, the results on the scoreboard will change.”
Waterloo opens its 2017 campaign in Windsor on Aug. 27.