Looking back at the football season they鈥檝e just played, some players from the Howe Sound Sounders say the team鈥檚 come a long way.
While the group didn鈥檛 make it past their semifinal game on Nov. 17, players say everyone pulled together throughout the season to clinch some impressive victories.
The Sounders鈥� story is an underdog tale.
Many on the team this year were either completely new to the game of football, or new to playing it in a competitive setting.
Roughly only a quarter of the players on the team had experience on the field, which made things quite challenging at first.
Coach Jim Errington previously told The Chief that at the beginning of the season some of the players were so new to the game, they didn鈥檛 quite understand how hard they could play in a 鈥渃ontact sport.鈥�
Furthermore, some players weren鈥檛 playing in positions that suited their natural strengths, so the lineups had to be tweaked to make sure everyone was in the right role.
鈥淚t was a pretty rough start, but close to the end of the season when we got into the regular season, we started learning a lot more and executing a little better,鈥� said quarterback Michael Lane.
The playbook was changed to emphasize more passing plays to balance out the team鈥檚 natural tendency, which leans towards running plays, he said.
Over time, the team started doing better and better at practice.
Eventually, it led to one moment when Lane felt like everything was starting to work out.
鈥淲e kind of just clicked,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to describe, but it鈥檚 pretty amazing.鈥�
鈥淲e just ran our plays as well as we could,鈥� Lane continued. 鈥淲e just came together at the end of the day.鈥�
Apparently, Lane鈥檚 intuition was correct.
Howe Sound made their way from a struggling team to a squad that managed to capture some decisive wins.
For linebacker Hayden Taylor, one of those victories, in particular, stands out.
鈥淲hen we all really just came together and played football was our second season game against Frank Hurt,鈥� he said.
In this case, the numbers tell the tale.
The Sounders steamrolled Frank Hurt with a 34-0 shutout victory on Nov. 4.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 quite incredible,鈥� Taylor said. 鈥淲e came into that game underdogs and we pulled through and just won the game.鈥�
It was a hard-fought victory.聽
Some might even argue there was a little bit of a David-versus-Goliath element to the match up.聽
For instance, Taylor, for instance, said Frank Hurt鈥檚 lineup featured players who were generally physically bigger.聽
In the end, however, size didn鈥檛 equal strength when it came to the final score.聽 There was another standout win.聽
Howe Sound defeated Eric Hamber with a score of 58-38 on Nov. 11.聽
It was a good way to turn the tables, considering that Eric Hamber got the best of the Sounders in the 32-6 game in September.
鈥淥ur final three games of the season, [the team] picked it up,鈥� said Taylor. 鈥淲e did quite well.鈥�
鈥淲ith football, you just need that time to play together and practice together,鈥� he said.
