Lajeunesse drops first ever home football game

By Christian Bouchard

After a 26-year wait, Ecole Secondaire E.J. Lajeunesse Senior football team played host to their first ever home football game on Thursday.

Bleachers full of students, alumni, friends and family welcomed the 36 players at the school, which has around 420 students.

Matthew Pickens, the team’s running back also showed his support not on the field, but on the sidelines.

A season ending hip injury left Pickens sidelined for the game and possibly the entire season. Although Pickens couldn’t help out physically, he said he was proud of the support the team received from the local crowd. 

“Usually we have to go away for every single game and cause of that we weren’t getting as many fans,” said Pickens. “To have friends and family come and watch with the convenience of having them at our school will make for more exciting games.”

Stepping up for Lajeunesse was senior Brandon Speller who played on both sides of the ball and recorded six receptions for over 60 yards.

Trailing by just six points with less than three minutes left in the game, Lajeunesse fought hard until the final minutes. In hopes to secure their first home victory, Lajeunesse blocked a field goal late in the game and stopped Riverside just a couple yards shy from the end zone.

In the end, Riverside topped Lajeunesse by a final score of 25-12.

Though they may have not gotten the results they were looking for, Speller believes the crowd will play a major role for the rest of the season.

“The atmosphere was nuts,” said Speller. “The stands were full and it was really cool to see how everyone came to support us. We just got to work hard and translate all this support into wins.”

Even with the loss, head coach Eddie Young knows the team can improve on a week to week basis with the help and support from a home crowd.

“It’s a building process and we’ll get better next week but I’m very excited about what we have building here,” said Young. “To improve what we have going, the key for us is getting our depth so we can maintain a championship run.”.

Regardless of the loss, Lajeunesse now has a place to call their own. While many fans will continue to show their support, Thomas Couvillon, the principal of the school wants to remind the team what playing at home should mean to them.

“It’s all about competing,” said Couvillon. “It’s a mentality. A culture. This will help us this year but it will be a bigger process over the next few years. There will be a mental approach towards understanding that this is our home and we have to defend our home and take care of business on our home field.”