LCI Rams football look to rely on veterans and newcomers for success

By Lethbridge Herald on August 26, 2022.

Herald File Photo- LCI Rams Maxx Hironaka starts his run for a touchdown during the first quarter against Medicine Hat High School on Saturday at the University of Lethbridge stadium in 2021 file photo.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The LCI Rams football club is feeling pretty good about where their preparations are at for this upcoming season.

“I think last year’s group of guys did a really good job of showing our Grade 10s and 11s last year what it took to be successful in terms of practice habits and the way to approach a football season,” said coach Pat Leahy.

“And I think it’s apparent that those kids from last year had taken that to heart and they’ve shown this current group of Grade 10s the ropes of how things are run and how to do things properly. So I’m really happy with the way that training camp has gone and you never really know what you’ve got and how you stack up until see your guys versus somebody else. So I’m looking forward to the Bev Facey game (on Friday) just to get some live action and some live fire and see how the guys kind of shake down under a little bit of fire.”

The Rams beat Bev Facey 27-5 on Friday in exhibition play.

Quarterback Marcus Christos had three passing touchdowns, wide receiver Carter Tanner had a 55-yard receiving touchdown, Blake Van Bruggen had two touchdown passes from 48 and 53 yards respectively and running back Nathan Morris had a 15-yard rushing touchdown.

Facey’s points came off a missed field goal rouge and two conceded punt safeties.”You know the population of LCI is growing due to some re-zoning changes,” said Leahy.

“We have a lot of guys coming into the program and LCI as a whole who weren’t necessarily looking to playing football. I’m proud of the work that we as a coaching staff did in the offseason going through the hallways and talking to kids and gym classes and things like that. So our roster last year was about 46. We’re looking at about 62, 63 at the moment as far as growth.”

Leahy added, “Honestly  the biggest thing for us in camp with all that young talent is kind of finding a way to mesh it with the existing veterans we have and the kids kind of know more so what the expectations are with Rams football.”

Leahy said again with high school sports, (they) don’t want kids to look at replacing other kids.

“We want kids to come in and be the best version of themselves in that spot and do things the right way,” he said.

“So looking at it, at quarterback we have  Marcus Christos who was our back up last year, he’s a Grade 11, he worked his tail off in the offseason going to a bunch of camps and training and hitting weights and I think he is primed to have a real good year. Blake Van Bruggen is back, he’s a Grade 12 —he was one of our top receivers and (top) defensive players last year. You know again, he’s just a phenomenal athlete, a tough cover on offense, a great cover on defense.”

This team will also have a rare talented crop of Grade 10s such as  Morris playing running back, Golden Letourneau at receiver and Ismael Mohamed at corner.

“It’s kind of a rare group of Grade 10s where the athletic ability is off the charts and puts in a position to be successful and competitive right away,” he said.

Leahy will be looking for a more balanced approach on offence in the sense of completing some passes and running the ball at a decent clip.

The goal this year is to win a provincial championship.

“The word that I look for our team is relentless,” said Leahy.

The Rams will play the All-Saints at Lethbridge’s Community Stadium at 2 p.m. on Sept. 10.

LCI will begin Tier 1 Division ‘A’ play on Sept. 16 in Cardston.

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