GFESS Gryphons teams getting geared up for season
August 28, 2024 at 3:10 AM
The Greater Fort Erie Secondary School (GFESS) football teams are gearing up for what is hoped to be another two successful seasons.
Training has already started in a summer camp held for the junior and senior squads, both of which had solid 4-1 regular seasons last year.
The GFESS junior and senior football teams have been taking part in a summer camp since last week to get ready for the upcoming season. Credit: Submitted PhotoThe senior team lost a “heartbreaker” to Welland Centennial Secondary School in the semifinals of the playoffs, and the junior team fell short to A.N. Myer in the finals, said Dave Sauer, head coach of the senior team.
“We’re really proud of the program,” said Sauer, who is also a history teacher at GFESS, and has been running the summer sessions with junior team head coach Nick Woehl.
The teams don’t cut anyone or turn students away who come forward.
“Whoever signs up, we’ll take,” said Sauer, adding the players have to compete for playing time.
The teams will begin practicing when school starts next week and an exhibition game for the senior team will take place at GFESS at 7 p.m. against St. Paul Catholic High School on September 13, which the community is invited to come out and watch.
GFESS opened its doors in 2017, a $30-million facility and first high school built by District School Board of Niagara in more than 40 years.
It also has a state-of-the-art turf field, and lights that make evening games quite the draw, bringing out more than 1,000 people each home game.
“We try to make it as big of a deal as possible,” said Sauer.
The junior team usually sees more than 40 players sign up in the first week, and the senior team about the same, said Sauer.
He agrees the teams see a large turnout because of the quality of their home facility, but also because the teams are good. They both had winning records last season in a division that consists of other teams who can pull players from larger populations, such as St. Catharines and Niagara Falls.
He said A.N. Myer’s senior team was ranked fifth in all of Canada last year and that they are the “standard” of high school football in Niagara currently.
But the Gryphons aren’t far behind.
“We’re trying to get ourselves up to being the standard,” said Sauer.
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About The Author
Kris Dubé
Kris is a veteran journalist who has worked in Niagara for close to 20 years. He is also a lifelong resident of Fort Erie, a place he plans to call home and raise his family for many more years.
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