PLAYOFF PREVIEW: (ONT – OTTAWA): Lions, Jaguars battle for A/AA Championship this weekend

This Saturday the NCSSAA Tier 1 A/AA football playoffs will be taking place at Carleton University. For the second straight year the St. Mark Lions and St. Joseph Jaguars will square off at 11:30 for the A/AA championship.

Saturday’s game will mark the end of an unusual season for the NCSSAA Tier 1 teams. The league only featured four teams this year. This meant all four teams knew they would be competing for a championship at the end of the year.

For the first time all season the game will be played for more than bragging rights. Players will have to be mentally ready to play their first meaningful game of the year.

“The majority of our guys appreciate the significance of this game for sure. It’s been a long season with no real advantage of finishing first or fourth. It all comes down to winning our last game so that’s what we’re going to try and do,” said St. Mark Head Coach Paul Brown.

Even though this is the first playoff game of the year for the Lion’s and every other Tier 1 team. Coach Brown is counting on the fact there are players returning from last year’s championship game who will know what to do in the pressure packed playoff atmosphere.

Both teams enter Saturday’s game at 2-4. Stastically the Jaguars have a slight advantage. Both teams have given up similar amounts of points. The Lions have given up 118 and the Jaguars have given up 116. On offence though the Jaguars have outscored the Lions 83-35.

The Lion’s and Jaguars have faced off twice already this season.  The first match-up came all the way back in week one of the season at TD Place. The Jaguars won 26-8. The two teams faced off again on October 23^rd where the Lion’s evened up the season series with a 13-3 victory.

With having played each other two times this season both teams will know what they have to do come Saturday to be successful.

“We have to tackle really well defensively because they have some really special athletes who are offensive weapons,” said Brown.

Offensively The Lions are going to focus on controlling the flow of the game by dominating the time of possession. Brown wants to keep his defence off the field as much as possible.

For the Jaguars they will be relying on the offensive weapons that Brown mentioned to thwart the Lions plan of controlling the game by breaking out for big offensive plays.

Something that Brown wants his players to remember that no matter what the result of Saturday’s game is that the season is not defined by the final game. High school football much more than just a sporting endeavour.

“It’s not just about playing football, it’s about making memories, making friends and enjoying your high school experience,” said Brown.

Brown is also focused on keeping his player’s minds on Saturday’s game and not looking ahead to whatever may come next. He isn’t thinking about and doesn’t care to know where or who the Lion’s will play if they come out on top on Saturday.

“We’re going to show up Saturday morning and try to play to the best of our abilities. If we win then they’ll tell us where to go next,” said Brown.