NKEC football: a long way in a short time

We have four excellent high schools in Kings County, all of which have had no small degree of athletic success.

This past week, the spotlight was squarely on NKEC, which hosted the NSSAF provincial Tier II football final in Canning - and captured the championship 36-20 over Prince Andrew.

NKEC, still only six years old, has now won provincial championships in five different sports: soccer (both boys’ and girls’), hockey, badminton, table tennis and football.

Considering the Canning school only started playing football in the fall of 2006, the team’s meteoric rise to the level of provincial champion is eye-opening.

Some will say NKEC “only won a Tier 2 title.” This, sadly, was reflected in little more than a “lip service” mention of the NKEC win in the provincial media.

I say a provincial banner is a provincial banner.

The NKEC coaching staff made the decision to remain in Tier 2 for a second season, and geared their approach to being as competitive as possible. The Titans finished 5-3, with all three losses – by relatively competitve scores – against more established Tier 1 teams.

In the playoffs, the Titans earned a quarterfinal bye thanks to their first-place finish, then dispatched both Avon View (which played Tier 1 this season) and Prince Andrew, an established city school, to claim the Tier 2 crown.

Even before the playoffs started NKEC co-head coaches Angelo Visentin and Wally Archer had praise for how far the program had come.

The Titans were especially talented and tenacious on defense, regularly holding Tier 2 opponents scoreless or close to it and holding a pair of Tier 1 teams, Dr. J.H. Gillis and Sir John A. Macdonald, to 17 and 24 points respecitvely.

In the playoffs, NKEC outscored opponents 58-30.

Even the final was a lot more lopsided than the final score would suggest.

Some of the NKEC players are graduates of the successful Valley Minor Football program – and this provincial banner is a good reflection on the Bulldogs – while others hadn’t played organized football before.

The Titans will move up to Tier 1 next season with a solid program in place, one that can boast a provincial title.

With a solid foundation, a commitment from Archer and Visentin to continue as coaches for the foreseeable future, and a successful minor program as a feeder, I expect NKEC to be competitive.

Things are bound to be tougher in Tier 1 – as Avon View found this season – but the bottom line is, anything is possible.