Titans early success bodes well for high school football

I have to admit, I was a bit skeptical at first when I heard that NKEC was thinking about getting involved in high school football this fall.

On the one hand, NKEC has developed a good reputation in terms of high school athletics over its short six-year history, not only in ‘mainstream’ sports like soccer and hockey but also in lesser-known activities like badminton and table tennis.

On the other hand, football is another thing altogether, both in terms of the size of the roster and the commitment to practice necessary to develop a successful program.

Not that I didn’t think NKEC could do it, but I wondered whether there would be enough interest (and commitment) from the male students to form a roster, not to mention the ability to raise the several thousand dollars required to mount a football program.

Moreover, while Avon View appeared committed to fielding a football team, making for a built-in local rivalry, Horton’s attempt to field a team fell short – for this year at least –

to my mind, putting more pressure on NKEC to succeed.

Well, it’s still early days yet, but I’m pleased to say that it appears NKEC’s football experiment is a rousing success so far.

First of all, between 35 and 40 student-athletes turned out for the team, including, as it turns out, some pretty fair athletes who have taken to football fairly quickly and shown a strong commitment to the program.

The team also lucked out in its quest to find qualified and committed coaches. Everyone I’ve talked to about it feels the school struck gold when it convinced Angelo Visentin and Wally Archer to serve as co-head coaches.

Both Visentin and Archer work at the Nova Scotia Youth Centre in Cambridge, and have already shown they have the no-nonsense ‘tough but fair’ mentality that football coaches (and teams) require.

Even better, they appear committed to the NKEC program for the long-term, which can only help the team as it continues to grow and develop.

There is also a strong supporting cast of assistant coaches, including Roy Brown, another ‘no-nonsense’ guy who is also the NKEC hockey coach and commands a lot of respect.

The fundraising effort, while still a work in progress, was successful enough to allow the program to move ahead, purchase the necessary equipment (thanks to a payment plan) and pay any outstanding league fees. Fundraising will continue, and might even become a little easier now that the team is a reality and is developing a profile in the community.

The NKEC student body has also embraced the football team. I had occasion to visit the school a day or two prior to the Titans’ opening game Sept. 10 in Windsor, and noticed a definite buzz of anticipation wherever I went.

All these things add up to, if not immediate success – after all, there are schools in Nova Scotia that have played high school football seemingly forever – then at least to a solid footing.

NKEC lost its first game 30-21 at Avon View, a disappointing result for the Titans but a good thing for the Avalanche, giving their program an immediate shot in the arm, and for high school football in the Valley as a whole.

It was from all accounts a competitive and entertaining contest that did nothing to curb the enthusiasm over high school football at either school.

NKEC played its first-ever home game Sept. 16 in Canning, and the Titans sent their fans home happy after scoring a come-from-behind 23-13 win over Cole Harbour, a school that, while not among the league powers, isn’t an expansion team either.

Between these first two results – for the record, Avon View was also 1-1 after two games – there is certainly lots of room for optimism in and around the Canning school.

I don’t think anyone is looking for either Valley school to take the rest of the province by storm in their inaugural year in the league.

At the same time, the better they both do, and the sooner they become truly competitive, the better it will be, both for the league as a whole and for football here in the Valley.

Hopefully, a year from now, Horton will be able to join NKEC and Avon View for the makings of a real valley league. It can only be a ‘win-win’ situation, both for Valley Minor Football, which finally has an outlet for its bantam football graduates, and schools like Acadia, which should hopefully have a whole new talent pool for local recruiting.