Flashes can end year on high note|[11/11/05]
Published 12:00 am Friday, November 11, 2005
In a season of long road trips, St. Aloysius gets its shortest drive of the fall when they visit Pisgah in the season-ending game for both clubs tonight.
A win by the Flashes (3-7, 3-6 Region 3-1A) would end the season on a three-game win streak and give coach Jim Taylor’s program a lift into the offseason.
“It would be a good lift for our younger guys but the the best thing would be to give our seniors a positive ending,” Taylor said.
Three of those seniors are Hurricane Katrina evacuees from New Orleans in middle linebacker Noah Slater, safety John Buchman and quarterback Chris Baer. All three of the former Brother Martin players are expected to start against Pisgah.
Buchman had a huge game at Sebastapol last Friday, intercepting three passes and recovering two fumbles. Slater is one of the county’s leading tacklers with 139 stops and Baer has given the Flashes’ offense balance with his passing game.
“It would be good to go out with a win,” said Slater, who learned this week that two of his classmates from Brother Martin committed to major programs. “We’ve kept in touch with those guys,” Slater said in reference to Mark Snyder, a 280-pound lineman who committed to LSU this week and basketball player D.J. Augustin who signed with the University of Texas.
Slater is hoping his standout season with the Flashes can keep him in a uniform next year.
“I’m looking at some schools in Louisiana, like Southeastern and Northwestern,” he said.
“He can make someone a fine safety at the next level,” Taylor said. “We have him at middle linebacker and he does what middle linebackers are supposed to do and that’s make tackles. He made a hard lick on someone last week and a coach told me, ‘What a hit,’ and I said, ‘That’s what middle linebackers do.’”
While it will be hard to see the Brother Martin trio leave, Taylor is optimistic about the future.
“We have 14 freshmen and that’s a good number for us to have. They are going to play a big role in our future along with the nucleus we have coming back from our juniors and sophomores.”