Brockville’s St. Mary Crusaders’ Junior Football team capped off a perfect season last weekend by winning the National Capital Bowl. In snowy and cold conditions, the 4th year program defeated the defending champions from Orillia’s Park Street Collegiate.
The final score was 34-13 in the game held at Peterborough’s Trent University Stadium.
The win gave the Crusaders a record of 10-0 on the season.
After going 5-0 in the regular season and having only one touchdown scored against them, St. Mary defeated arch rival Brockville Collegiate in the semifinals 34-7. They then captured the schools’ first LGSSAA title by defeating the Gananoque Trojans 27-2.
In the EOSSAA semifinal playoff game the Crusaders knocked off Cornwall’s Holy Trinity Falcons by a final score of 37-7. This win advanced them to the EOSSAA championship game where they hung on to beat the Almonte Thunderbolts by a final count of 22-15. This set the stage for the first National Capital Bowl title for any LGSSAA school at either the Junior or Senior level.
The Crusaders’ were led all year by running back Danielo Calderisi who rushed for over 1,500 yards and 26 TD’s in 10 games of limited playng time. Rookie QB Scott Johnson kept opposing defences honest by improving each and every game and throwing for multiple TD’s in 2 of the last 3 games.
Defensively, the Crusaders gave up only 44 points on the entire season! They were led by punishing tacklers Jesse Robertson, Nawab Toor, Adrian Dalrymple, Cole Pickup, and Roddy Freeman. Defensive linemen Harrison Olajos and Alex Boswall forced numerous turnovers in controlling the trenches. On special teams, kickoff specialist Cole Pickup amazed crowds with his booming kicks which regularly provided St. Mary with a huge field advantage edge.
Congratulations to the Crusaders and their coaching staff of Steve White, Mark Reilly, and Jason Sheridan on their perfect season!
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