With the snow gone and spring here, the beginning of a new football season is just around the corner. With a new season comes new hopes for The Sr Varsity Oakville Titans.
Last season saw the Titans make a last-second jump to AAA just before the season began. Besides the team and their supporters, the Titans' hopes were not too high.
They would finish with a 3-3 regular season finish to go along with a 1-2 finish in exhibition play. To the surprise of many doubters, the Titans barely missed the Tier 1 playoffs by a tiebreaker. They would save their best offensive output for their Home Playoff game vs The Niagara Spears.
Unfortunately, they would come up short and lose on the final play of the game 38-37. Even though the loss was a hard pill to swallow, the coaches were very pleased and excited for the future of the Titans.
With a new season comes some new faces and old ones on both the roster and the coaching staff.
After last season was all said and done The Titans were in the hunt for a new head coach. That hunt did not take very long. The new head coach would be last year’s offensive coordinator (O.C.), Alex Charette.
Charette’s football resume speaks for itself. A Grey Cup Champion with the Toronto Argos. Along with the Argos, Charette played with the Montreal Alouettes and Edmonton Elks in the CFL. He was also an OUA standout with the Guelph Gryphons.
Along with head coaching duties, Charette will be returning as The Titans O.C. Coming back to the Titans in a new role is former offensive line coach Kevin Pickett.
Pickett will be the new assistant head coach. Running it back this season as wide receivers coach is Josh Vandeweerd, a former McMaster Marauder.
Returning to the offensive coaching staff is offensive line coach Tommy Bourikas, former Oakville Titan and current right tackle for the University of Guelph Gryphons.
New to the offensive coaching staff this season is Offensive Line Coach Nick Firlit. Nick played football in the OUA for the McMaster Marauders.
Nick also played in the CFL for the Ottawa RedBlacks. Also new to the offensive coaching staff is Running Backs Coach Stan Elad. Stan is a former NCAA Division III player at John Carroll University (Ohio Athletic Conference) and current O.C. for Mount Carmel Catholic Secondary in Mississauga. Vincent Reale, who will be helping Josh as a wide receiver coach, is new to the staff.
Vincent is a former Oakville Titan, who also went on to play in the OUA for 4 years with the York University Lions. Assisting Pickett with his game-day duties will be former Titans defensive allstar and current Laurier Golden Hawk Daniel Oladunjoye.
Also added to the Titans staff is Offensive Quality Coach Damian Goetzen. Damian joins the Titans for his first season of coaching.
On the defensive side of the ball are returning Defensive Co-Ordinator Phil Lamont, former University of Guelph Gryphon and coach for over 20 years. Alongside Phil is his right-hand man Herron Tait as defensive backs coach.
Another Guelph Gryphon all-star and Toronto Argo, Defensive Line and Special Teams Coach Todd Smith is new to the defensive coaching staff. Todd comes to the Oakville Titans after coaching with the North Halton Crimson Tide.
A former Concordia Stinger who also has a long list of coaching accolades, including D-Line coach for the York University Lions for 6 years from 2000-2006. Helping Todd on the D-Line this season is Garrison Pyle. Garrison brings a plethora of D-Line and O-Line having played both with the University of Toronto Varsity Blues.
Coming over from The Crimson Tide as well are Linebackers Coach Mike Cindric, a former York University Lion and community coach for over 10 years. Joining the linebacking coaching core is Sammy Okans. Coach Sammy played Linebacker for St. Francis Xavier. Assisting Herron with the DBs is Gianni Smith.
Last year’s varsity MVP, Gianni started last year for the Guelph Gryphons as a freshman defensive back and can’t wait to help Herron build the next generation of Titan DBs.
Moving on to the guys that actually play the game of football, the players.
The coaching staff is very excited at the turnout the Titans have had leading up to the first practices starting at the beginning of April. Both sides of the ball have a combination of returning players, players new to the organization, players returning to the organization and players coming up from Junior Varsity last season.
Let’s begin with the defensive side of the ball.
This season we have multiple returning starters from last year's squad who are excited to build on last year. As well as some players new to the squad or coming back to the Titans.
Titan defensive key players
- Defensive End – Jordan Downey
- Defensive End – Jack Porter
- Defensive Tackle – Carson Rosati
- Linebacker – Taejon Duncan
- Linebacker/Defensive Back – Sean Hussul
- Linebacker/Defensive Back – Sean Doherty
- Defensive Back – Isaiah Ricketts (Waterloo Commit)
Titan offensive key players:
- Quarterback – Quinn O’Billovich
- Wide Receiver – Glen Kouda (Laurier Commit)
- Wide Receiver – Ryan Hughes (Laurier Commit)
- Wide Receiver – Keon Modeste (St. FX Commit)
- Running Back – Ben Hussul
- Offensive Line – Daniel Omorogbe (SMU Commit)
- Offensive Line – Owen Pickett
- Offensive Line – Vibushan Pirabaharan (Current Waterloo Warrior)
- Offensive Line – Mustafa Haleem
- Offensive Line – Nathaniel Longley
- Offensive Line – Conor Culina (Mount Allison Commit)
Of course, we cannot forget the people behind the scenes, the management staff. Returning for another year as team manager is Kelle Porter.
Helping Kelle with the manager duties is Kirsten Persad. This is Kirsten’s first year with the Titans and is also the fiancé of Head Coach Alex Charette. Last but certainly not least, our amazing equipment manager Jason Longley. Jason has worn many hats for the Titans organization, and we are extremely lucky to have him on the staff.
As a Team, we are very excited to start the season. Players and coaches alike are ready to put in the hard work it will take to win a AAA Tier 1 Ontario Championship.