Mixed emotions as Tigers' season comes to an end

Roger Varley

An enthusiastic and vocal group of Uxbridge residents travelled to Oshawa Civic Centre on the weekend to watch the Uxbridge Secondary School Tigers junior football team play their last game of the short season. The Tigers lost the consolation final of the Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletics playoff 15-9 to Brooklin High School, but the local fans - and the head coach - were happy with the team's performance.

The USS Tigers take to the field at the start of a home game earlier this season. Cosmos file photo

"We were disappointed we didn't win, but we were excited to be on that field on a Saturday," said coach Jeff Keeping. "There were so many positives."

After the game Isaac Stephenson was named Uxbridge's special team player of the game, while Oakland Richards was named top defensive player and Bush was named top offensive player.

For Keeping, the season was "a huge building block going forward," The junior squad, the first football team USS has had in 13 years, was only put together in August and none of the members had played organized football before. Nevertheless, they won one exhibition game and one regular season game.

"This year was a great learning curve," Keeping said. "We'll hit the ground running next year and we will be competitive. Getting that one win gave us two extra games and that is success, The program has good momentum and the community is behind us."

He confirmed he will be back as head coach next year.

Michael Kerford, one of the coaches and the one who started the Restore the Roar fundraising campaign to bring football back to Uxbridge, declared the season "a tremendous success." He said the team had modest goals, given that it was a development season, but added that the Tigers players had represented their school and community well.

"We heard a lot of good comments from other teams," Kerford said.

He said the Tigers had raised school spirit and connected with the community. Kerford was also appreciative of the reaction from Uxbridge residents.

"The most heartwarming aspect was the community support," he said. "The town was abuzz, and the Homecoming game was the culmination of that support. People came out even if they didn't have kids on the team."

Next season, the Grade 10 students on the team will not be playing because the Tigers have not yet formed a senior team. But those players will be welcomed to take part in practices with the junior squad