The Howe Sound Sounders football team used its first game of the season as a testing lab of sorts for the tactics it鈥檒l be using this season.
While the 32-6 game against Eric Hamber Secondary last weekend didn鈥檛 result in a win, the Sounders used the opportunity to help its new players get their feet wet.
Twenty-four of the 30 players on the team are new, and for some of them, such as German international student Tom Lembke, it was one of their first experiences with the game. 鈥淚t was great to play the game,鈥� said Lembke, who played defensive end at the game and racked up the second-most tackles during the competition. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a real cool sport. I hope to play it in Germany, too.鈥�
Lembke is expected to transition to linebacker in upcoming matches.
The game against Eric Hamber was a good way to gauge how players were fitting into their roles.
鈥淭his game was really important,鈥� said coach Jim Errington. 鈥淚t was to evaluate players...a lot of people are playing in the wrong positions but you can鈥檛 recognize that until they actually step out in the field.鈥�
Some were so new to the game, that they weren鈥檛 quite sure just how rough football could get.鈥淏ecause football is a contact sport, some have no concept really of what the word really meant,鈥� Errington said.
Nevertheless, there were some achievements.
According to quarterback Michael Lane, the team took the opportunity to sharpen some running back offensives.
鈥淲e did pull off some plays that worked quite well,鈥� said Lane, who was also the offensive player of the game. 鈥淭hey were mostly run plays so I鈥檇 hand off to a running back and power through a hole. That worked quite well in the beginning of the game.鈥�
Lane managed to score the team鈥檚 sole touchdown by driving five yards to score the points.聽
This was on the heels of a 32-yard reception from Ray Belandres, who brought the ball within spitting distance of the goal line.
Squamish made 131 yards that game while Eric Hamber pushed the ball 287 yards.
Throughout the game, Lane rushed about 72 yards.
Hayden Taylor, the linebacker who was named the defensive player of the game, said it was a good first game, given how many new players were on team.
鈥淚 felt it went as well as I could expect from our team having so many new people playing on the defensive side 鈥� it鈥檚 a hard side to play,鈥� he said. 鈥淧laying an offensive team like Hamber, they were quite aggressive.... A lot of players I felt played well for their first time, but there鈥檚 definitely a lot to work on.鈥�
