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HISTORY OF THE WENTWORTH MINOR FOOTBALL ASSOCIATION
Wentworth Minor Football began with one peewee team as a satellite club of Burlington Minor Football in 1982.
Over the next few years we grew steadily and we won our first championship in 1986 coached by Scott Rieger and by 1988 the club consisted of one Atom, two Tyke, and one Peewee team. We incorporated as Flamborough Minor Football the same year.
The next year 1989, we won our first championship with our Tyke as well as the Peewees in their divisions in the Burlington Minor Football program.
In 1990 along with Guelph, Brantford, and Cambridge, we became the founding members of a new league known as SOFAL or the South Western Ontario Association of Leagues.
The success of our program continued and in 1992 we expanded to include Ancaster and Dundas as well as Flamborough. In 1993 our name was changed to Wentworth Minor Football Association to better reflect our area of representation.
In 1996 we undertook probably the most important aspect of our club when it was decided that we needed our own playing fields. Construction started on two new fields complete with lights at the Beverley Community Centre in Rockton to better link our communities. In 1999 we began playing at our new fields for the first time.
In the year 2000 two change rooms and concession booth were added at the fields. It was also decided to name the fields the MacRae Fields after one of our founding fathers, Malcolm MacRae. It is our commitment to continue developing the fields into a facility second to none in the area.
In 2002, we started our own Spring House league program. In the first year we had 230 players participate on 12 teams playing in 3 divisions. Last year our Spring program grew to 315 players and we added an introductory squirt division for 5-6 year olds. This year we anticipate between 350-400 players with 18 teams competing in five divisions.
We are the only unlimited weight minor football program in the local area. Each year we register kids from many different cities and towns in and around Flamborough, Dundas and Ancaster including Hamilton and Burlington. We have youngsters from as young as five years old to Sixteen playing in our Spring and Fall programs and we expect close to 600 players will participate during the 2004 season.
The success of the WMFA can also be measured in the numerous players that graduated from our organization who are now competing for various American and Canadian colleges and universities. Many surrounding high schools including Ancaster, Highland, St. Mary’s, Parkside, and Waterdown have benefited greatly from this program as well.
All of the coaches that volunteer their time have been or are in the process of being certified at various levels through the NCCP coaching program. Our Board of Directors is elected annually and is comprised of people from all segments of the community. These people along with the parents in our organization kindly dedicate hours and hours of their spare time to ensure a quality sporting experience is enjoyed by all.
The History of Panther’s Bantam Jr. Football in Wentworth
Wentworth Minor Football (WMFA) started in the Bantam division in 1988 with a team in the Golden Horseshoe league. The team was coached by Terry Godfrey out of Burlington. In 1989 Dorthy Moon, a director of the WMFA, was influential in getting the bantam team established into the COMFL (Central Ontario Minor Football League). The team was coached by Jim Giddens and Dorthy was the team manager. As with most expansion teams it was a challenging year.
In 1990 a new coaching staff was put into place and the team responded with 6 wins and 4 losses. They made the playoffs only to lose to a much bigger and more mature team from North York in the semi finals. The Bantam Panthers were asked to play an exhibition game against a team from Laval, Quebec that year at North York. The Panthers won the game handedly 47-6, and started a great relationship with Laval for many seasons to follow.
1991 was a year the Panthers were expected to do well. They opened the season with two wins in Laval Quebec. The two games were played on the same weekend and the Panthers were energized about the season that lay ahead. Unfortunately, as fate would have it, they lost their first four games of the season by a total of less then five points and missed the playoffs. Disheartened by knowing they were better than their record, the Panthers were asked to represent SOFAL (Southwestern Ontario Football Associated Leagues) in the Ontario Provincial Bowl Championships. It was a fantastic way to finish a season of disappointments. The first two games were against teams from Ottawa and the Panthers were victorious in both. This put them into the finals against Scarborough, the COMFL champions. The lead in the game change hands several times. The skill, desire and potency of that team (with great players such as Adam Diciacca , Scott Ashworth, Doug Mosses, Jeff Jones and Jason Ott) was evident that day. In the end the Panthers lost by only two points on a heavily disputed call of clock management in the last minute of play. To this day it is believed they won that game and that it was not a loss by the players but taken away from them. I guess you call that fate.
The next season saw a new cast of players including the brother of Jeff Jones. His name was Ryan Jones and he was a QB with great potential coming out of the Peewee program. He was a component that the team had been lacking the last two years. In the two seasons Ryan was the QB, the team it made the playoffs only to lose in the semi finals to North York and then to Pickering, both years. Many high quality players have come through the team and gone on to play at collages and universitiess in Canada and the United States. Ryan Jones, of course, being one of them. He is currently at St. Mary’s and is their starting QB.
In 1994 recruiting was easier said than done as players opted for the local high school program. A lot of that was due to the fact that Waterdown High was having magnificent success tahnks to the local minor organization. In the first game of the season the Panther’s were crushed 56-0 by a very physically powerful Scarborough team. They lost not only the game but their starting QB to a broken collar bone. After that game the high school program started and some of the non-varsity players with a lot of talent came out to join the Bantam team. One of those players was a QB that had just finished Peewee in our minor house league system. His name was Todd Stevens. That year the team not only competed in the COMFL but they also played in the new Bantam division in the SOFAL. The team played 24 games that year making the playoffs in both leagues. They lost to the North York Bandits in the COMFL in a close semi-final but went on to be the SOFAL champions. It was this team that started a three year championship rein in SOFAL Bantam division.
In 1995 the COMFL requested that the WMFA insert rep teams into all of their divisions or they would not allow the Panthers to remain in the league. The WMFA board of directors judged that the SOFAL format of house league, suited the community's leisure activity better by allowing all kids a chance to play. With that decision the Panthers were now going to play in the SOFAL Bantam rep league only. That year was very successful for the Panthers. They went 8-2 and won the championship for the second year in a row. They hosted Laval, Quebec in the Province Bowl and won that as well. The only thing that did not go well that year was the Ontario Provincials. The Panthers could not adapt to the elements of snow and wind and lost by a slim five points to Ottawa.
Again in 1996 a new cast of graduating Peewee players came out for tryouts. The team sputtered at first but went on to win 8 games in the regular season and a third SOFAL championship. It was another very successful season. At the end of the year the team traveled to Laval, Quebec to play two games for the Province Bowl. The players had a blast and came away with a great memories and the championship a second time.
The 1997 season was a very competitive season, with any team capable of winning against its opponent. The Panthers were 7-3-1 on the season and finished third in the standings. This was the first time the Panthers would start the playoffs on the road since joining SOFAL. The Panthers still won their semi-final game against Brantford to advance to the finals against the Guelph Bears in Guelph. It was one of the coldest days that fall with gusting winds. The Bears started the game with two quick touchdowns in less than sixty seconds of play. The Panthers clawed their way back, taking the lead by half time and keeping it till the last minute of the game. Then the Panthers, who were against that strong wind, tried to convert on fourth and short. Failing to get it, the Panthers turned the ball over to the Bears with nine seconds left on the clock and trailing by one point. The Bears punted the ball on first down deep into the end zone for a single point tying the game and sending it to overtime. In overtime, the Bears scored late and the exhausted Panthers just could not respond and lost the chance for its fourth straight championship.
In 1998 SOFAL changed the registration requirements in Bantam to a no-weight limit system. The WMFA executive did not feel comfortable with this and, concerned for the player's safety, decided that it would not field a team that season. In 1999 the Panthers returned to SOFAL finding the no weight issue had little effect on injuries or overall safety. It was difficult to restart a program that was being challenged by not only by the local high schools but also by the upstart of Jr.OVFL spring/summer league. The Panthers had their first losing season since 1991 and were eliminated in the semi finals. The only reason they made the playoffs was that there were only four teams in the league because three associations had migrated to the Jr.OVFL. At the end of 1999 season the Panthers played Chateaugay, the champions from the North Shore League in Montreal. The Panthers won the game with some call ups from the Peewee team which added some much needed speed to the team.
In January 2000 the WMFA applied to the OVFL to play in the spring/summer Jr. division. There was no doubt that this division had the fundamental basics for a quality league. The recruiting was hard, as the qualifications were much more serious and demanding of both the players and coaches. The WMFA knew that, this being an upstart summer league, it would need some selling to the players and parents both. The competition was going to be very strong, forcing us to be more committed to achieving the goal of being a number one team in this new league. The Panthers opened the season with an exhibition game against the Hamilton Iron Men losing 20-14. However they realized that they could compete at this high level of play. The Waterdown High School head coach, Larry Timms, was very supportive of this program as he realized the benefits it would have on his own team. The first regular season game was against Beeton at home with the Panthers winning it 10-0. The second game was against the SOFAL champions, the Brantford Bisons. The Panthers scored first and had the lead at half time 10-6. Fate was not to be theirs and they lost 21-16 in a great game between to very good teams. The next weekend they travelled to Brampton, winning 35-7. In their fourth game, the Panthers played Beeton again, winning 14-6. Game # 5saw the Panthers travel to Huronia, crushing them 57-6. The Panthers pulled most of their starters from the game in the third quarter to give them a rest and to give the second string players some playing time and game experience. The Huronia game is where injuries started to catch up to the Panthers. They lost their center, Steve England when went down with a knee injury that was going to keep him out for four weeks. The team travelled to Essex for their next game with a short bench (some of the players had other commitments they had to oblige). The Panthers stumbled and fumbled their way through a badly played game before losing 42-27. Later that week at practice the number one tailback, Mike Harris, went down with a leg injury. It was a freak accident whereby he struck his shin on a helmet in practice and chipped the bone. Not having enough time to prepare their rookie tailback, they lost to Mississauga 14-7 the following weekend. The Panthers knew it could have been 14–7 for them just as easily. With that loss their next game was meaningless as they were locked into second place. All they could play for was pride. Being a Panther and losing was not a thing they accepted. Playing a lot of the juniors that game, the Panthers could not get any flow and lost 21-7. They ended the season with 4 wins and 4 losses. That last loss may have done them some good, as they worked hard the next two weeks preparing for the semis against Beeton. The Panthersa won that game convincingly, and now it was on to the finals against Mississauga for the Eastern Division Championship. Once again they worked hard all week and entered the game with confidence. They knew that if they pounded on Mississauga every play, that they would quit and that is exactly what happened. The Panthers just believed in each other and played as "we" and "us", not "I" and "me". They became a family that day and won 17-13. They were now headed to a rematch for the Jr. OVFL Championship against a very good Brantford Bisons team. They went into that game as underdogs but the Panthers believed in theirselves. The defense featured Frank Diolakis and Chris Basilewski, two all-stars linebackers (they were one and two in the league for tackles, respectively). At the players awards night the Brantford linebacker received the award for outstanding linebacker. A good player, but it was felt that the Panther's offense needed to make a statement and ran at him all day, grindingt out chunks of yardage each time. At half time the Panthers were leading 10 – 0 and knew that only fate could take it away from them. Ii has been said that when you get two equally talented teams it is usually a poor call or a bad bounce that wins the game. True to form, a late whistle allowed Brantford to strip the ball from a Panther's back and score making the game 10-7. As the Panthers were trying to get over this, Brantford broke one for a long run and scored again. Now leading 14-10 the teams exchanged TD’s and, with time left, the Panthers had the ball and were driving it up the field. The coaches knew if they held onto the ball, they would make their own destiny. But, they panicked, and put the ball in the air. Brantford made a great play, intercepted the ball and ran out the clock to win 20-16.
The 2001 season is starting and recruiting is an ongoing process. With the help of all the local high schools, the Panthers will be even stronger this year. They are looking for intelligent talented athletes committed to the team.
This is not a team of "me's" and "I’s", conversely they are looking for players that want team trophies, not individual awards. There is no room for a bunch of arrogant selfish, superstars. If this is your idea of a team, then I hope you come out. I want to meet you and hope that you make our team.
Written By
Malcolm MacRae
2000 Season AUS (AUAA) All-Stars
OFFENSIVE ALL-STARS
Quarterback:
Ryan Jones, Saint Mary’s University, # 4
Age 23. 6’2”, 200lbs. 4th year of eligibility
Mathematics student from Waterdown, ON
Borisenko Named PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year
IUP junior linebacker Mike Borisenko has been named the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Western Division Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season.
Borisenko was joined by four other Indians as first team all-conference choices, including junior nose tackle Tim Buffone and senior defensive end Roger Wilson on defense. First team choices from the IUP offense include sophomore tailback Aamir Dew and sophomore wide receiver Carmelo
Ocasio.
Borisenko, a native of Waterdown, Ontario, and a graduate of Altoona High School, led IUP and ranked fifth in the PSAC in tackles with 107 and tackles for loss with 14, including 4.5 sacks. He also forced a pair of fumbles and recovered another in earning first team all-conference honors for the second time.
Borisenko had four games with 10 or more tackles, including 17 against Bloomsburg which was one shy of his school record of 18 set last season against West Chester. He also made 13 tackles each against Clarion and California and 10 against Slippery Rock.
Borisenko Named to Three All-America Teams
IUP junior linebacker Mike Borisenko has been named to NCAA Division II All-America first teams by the American Football Coaches Association, d2football.com and usafootball.com for the recently completed 2000
campaign.
Borisenko also was named to the Daktronics Northeast Region all-star team and will be placed on the ballot for All-America consideration by that organization as well. The Waterdown, Ontario, native and Altoona High School graduate was a second team Daktronics selection in 1999.
Borisenko led IUP and ranked fifth in the PSAC in tackles with 107 and also paced the Indians in tackles for loss with 14, including 4.5 sacks. He also forced a pair of fumbles and recovered another. Earlier this month, the 6-0, 240-pound Borisenko was selected the Pennsylvania State
Athletic Conference Western Division Defensive Player of the Year and a first team all-conference choice for the second consecutive season.
Borisenko had four games with 10 or more tackles, including 17 against Bloomsburg which was one shy of his school record of 18 set last season against West Chester. He also made 13 tackles each against Clarion and California and 10 against Slippery Rock.
A starter since the middle of his freshman season, Borisenko now has a total of 291 tackles in his three-year career, with 36 of those coming behind the line of scrimmage. He is 18 short of entering the top 10 all-time at IUP in career tackles.
Two more IUP players, sophomore tailback Aamir Dew and senior defensive end Roger Wilson, were both named to the d2football.com second team. Like Borisenko, Dew and Wilson were both named to the PSAC West first team.
Hamilton Wentworth Minor Football Association
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