The Dartmouth Junior Varsity Knights football team recently brought the championship trophy over to this side of the harbour for the first time.
The Knights beat the Halifax Sea Hawks 14-13 in a down-to-the-wire championship game last month at Saint Mary’s University.
“I coudn’t be more proud of them,” said head coach Nick Barr. “This league prepares these 15 and 16 year old young men for high school and university football. This year they are a very special and dedicated group.”
The team played eight games together from April until June and the players came from all parts of Dartmouth. And that is what really made this team stand out, said Barr.
“These guys came from all high schools in Dartmouth and from all backgrounds,” he said. “Yet still they managed to come together and build a cohesive team that they knew they needed to have in order to win. And they did it.”
He said he knows some of them have a challenging home life, but when they are on the field all that they know is their love for the game.
And, Barr said, what you see in football is not what you see in other sports. Everyone has a role no matter what their size or ability, and that makes everyone a vital part of the team, he said.
“Football is like a microcosm of life in terms of what they have to learn from one another,” said Barr. “I have coached a lot of sports and have never seen such respect, team work and diplomacy as I have seen in this team this year.”
Knights linebacker Michael Weatherley is entering Grade 11 this fall at Dartmouth High. He said winning the championship made him feel like a rock star.
“It doesn’t matter what school you go to, or where you live, our teammates became our brothers,” he said.
Andrew “Pickles” Klain agrees.
“This team is a way to bring kids together,” said the 16 year old runningback who hails from Prince Andrew High School. “At the first of the year we stuck to kids we knew, but that soon changed.”
Fifteen year old Kevin James is a soon to be Grade 10 Auburn Drive High School student. He said he plans to play football throughout high school, and to stick playing with the Knights in the spring and summer.
James played football in his old hometown of New York City, but said it was nothing like playing for the Knights.
“My JV varsity team there was all about going on to the next level,” he said. “But the Knights, this is way more of a team.”
His stepmother Janet Porter said people could learn from the Knights in more ways than one.
“They had great coaching, they listened and they became better football players over the past few months,” she said. “But how they got along and respected one another is what impressed me most. I love that as a citizen of Dartmouth and as a mother.”
joanneoostveen@accesswave.ca
