The carryover from a 42-7 loss at the hands of the North Halton Crimson Tide earlier this month was evident early, as the Sudbury Jr. Gladiators hosted the rematch Saturday at the James Jerome Sports Complex.
That was unfortunate, as the locals displayed the ability to go toe to toe with the visitors throughout the entire second half. By then, however, their fate was sealed, spotting the Tide a 24-0 lead before making a game of it, losing 41-27 in the end.
An already fragile team psyche took a hit, right out of the gates, as the Jr. Gladiators opening play from scrimmage resulted in a fumble recovery for their opportunistic opponents.
Though the initial damage was limited to a 27 yard field goal from Josh Bridge, the Sudbury crew could not keep North Halton out of the end zone for long, as Erik Rasmussen (27 yard run) and Matt McDonough (36 yard run) gave the Crimson Tide a 17-0 lead in the first quarter, with McDonough adding his second major (5 yard run) just 2:24 into quarter two.
But the contest, which appeared to be a sure-fire bet for the straight time mercy rule (35 pt lead), took an interesting turn for the homeside. Spurred on by a pair of interceptions from linebacker Michael Andlar, the Gladiators got on the board before the break, as Nick Rideout scampered in from the six, and duplicated this feat on a two point conversion moments later.
Sudbury narrowed the gap to just ten points when Rideout sprinted across the goal line from 17 yards out, midway though quarter three, making the score 24-14. North Halton would get that one back three minutes later, as Ethan Constable gobbled up a ball that Rideout tossed up for grabs, deep in his own territory.
But the Lively Hawks senior signal-caller atoned for that mistake, hooking up with Nicholas Witzke on a lengthy pass and run for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter.
Bridge sailed his second field goal through at 3:05 of the fourth, increasing the Halton advantage to 34-21, and Jacob Downes provided a measure of insurance, rumbling in from eight yards out, before Rideout closed out the scoring with his third TD of the day.
A 2-6 record this summer provided plenty of opportunity for growth within the Jr. Gladiators lineup, and not just for the players. Twenty year-old former high school all-star Adam Ferris tackled his first year enjoying a defined role within the coaching staff, working with the defensive linemen.
"I've been coached by Kevin Ellsworth, I've been coached by Reg Bonin, I've coached with Kevin Garbuio," said Ferris.
"We had some good kids that wanted to learn. The biggest challenge for me was when kids came to me, asking very specific questions.
"It often came back to me simply asking myself, 'what would I do if I was the player?'"
Without a great deal of depth on either side of the line, the Jr. Gladiators were forced to improvise, leaving Ferris and company relatively pleased with the end product.
"For me, I was most pleased with how much the kids were really enjoying it," he said. "They were coming off the field, not hanging their heads, but asking what they could do better."
The learning experience, for Ferris as it is with the players, will lie in trying to avoid a similar slow start the next time they are in the same situation.
"It's tough to say what caused our slow start," said Ferris. "We had played them earlier in the season, and we had all said that this was a beatable team.
"But right off the bat, we got a little timid of what was coming at us. We had a rough first quarter. We made a few adjustments, and then came out swinging."
That would be a good carryover to 2017.
