CFC25 Small School Rankings (1): Three new top five programs in our first ranking of the season

It’s that time of year again. You never know who’s going to maintain their spot from year to year when it comes to the CFC25 Small School Rankings, and with plenty of games under our belts we’ve got three new programs featured in the top five.

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College Bourget take over the number one spot after a flying 3-0 start to the season in Quebec. They had a close call this past week with a tight 20-12 victory over College Laval, who will be looking to enact revenge when the playoffs roll around. Another team to watch in the Western Division are newcomers Dalbe-Viau, who fell just shy of taking down College Laval in week two. Dalbe-Viau are relying heavily on the run game led by Antwan Raymond, while College Laval prefer to gain yards through the air with the arm of Arnaud Dugas commanding the offence. It’ll be interesting to see who’s offensive philosophy will hold up throughout the season as they try to chase down College Bourget, who have a much more balanced offence that can hurt opponents along the ground or through the sky. Meanwhile in the Eastern Division it’s Académie les Estacades who have jumped out to an early 3-0 record led by quarterback Benjamin Marchand with eight touchdowns on just 38 completions. They’ll be looking to hold off Seminaire Saint-Joseph and Roger-Comtois, with the latter hoping to get their offence rolling to compliment their defensive efforts.

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It’s been chaos in Alberta with programs playing a long series of non-conference games before the regular season got underway, and as of right now it looks like the DII title will be Holy Trinity Academy’s to lose. The Knights are already 4-0 playing as an Independent this season, including a massive 15-12 victory over last year’s number one program St. Joseph’s, who they lost to in the DII provincial finals last November. It’s been a heartbreaking start to the year for St. Joseph’s, who also dropped a close contest to DIII program Holy Rosary in their season opener, but have been able to bounce back outscoring Fort McMurray and Springbank 85-14 the past two weeks. On the other hand Holy Rosary have continued to put a scare into all opponents despite their smaller stature, including DI CFC50 program Ernest Manning who they played tough in a 28-13 defeat. Their focus has now shifted to their league schedule where they defeated Lloydminster this past week 35-7, and are hoping to flip the tables in the DIII provincial playdowns after dropping the title to Cochrane last season. That’s going to be a tough task as always with Cochrane off to a menacing start outscoring their three opponents 147-27, and still have a matchup against Holy Trinity Academy coming down the road.

A pair of programs who didn’t appear on the final rankings last year were W.H. Croxford and Cardston, who’ve grabbed the attention of their rivals across Alberta with a strong start to the season. Croxford remains undefeated with a key victory over George McDougall to begin their campaign, while Cardston are looking to take the experience from a tough matchup against CFC50 Lethbridge this past week to continue their winning ways in the Southern Alberta League. Our last ranked squad from Alberta is George McDougall, who will be hoping to give Cochrane a run for their money this week in a huge conference game in the Rocky View League.

We now turn our attention to Manitoba, where the apple cart has remained stable as ever with Vincent Massey (BDN) continuing to dominate outscoring Kelvin and Elmwood 76-0 in the DII Vidruk Division, while Springfield remain unbeaten in the DII Gustafson Divison regular season since their debut in 2019 outscoring their opponents 71-0 in their first two games marking 16 straight victories. It’s going to be an absolute banger of a matchup when these two programs meet later in the season on October 14th after avoiding the clash last year.

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Heading west we land in Saskatchewan where the never ending feud between the DII Stewart Division in Regina and the South Rural League continues to spotlight our rankings. So far it’s looking like Yorkton will be the team to beat on the rural side outscoring their opponents 175-10 in their first three contests, but don’t count out last year’s champions Weyburn, who will be looking to bounce back come playoff time after dropping their season opener 26-10 on the road in Yorkton. In Regina right now it’s Greenall and Sheldon Williams leading the pack with flawless 2-0 records, but somebody will have to blink eventually with a matchup on September 28th looming.

It’s been all preseason action in BC so far, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t learned who the top contenders are heading into the regular season. Robert Bateman are looking formidable taking on three AAA Varsity opponents, and have showed no signs of slowing down on their revenge tour outscoring Rutland, W.J. Mouat and Sardis 111-14 including a pair off shutouts the past two weeks. They are still trying to erase the taste of defeat in the AA Varsity provincial finals last year at the hands of Carson Graham, who have moved up to AAA opening the door for a new program to rise to the top in 2022. Their division rivals out in Langley have looked tough to handle taking down Vernon 16-10 this past week, and also took down AAA Rutland 27-17 to kickoff their campaign, while South Kamloops look like they might have a squad after defeating AAA Sardis in week one, and nearly defeating AAA South Delta this past week. We can’t wait to see how the regular season shakes out with the first slate of AA games scheduled for Friday.

Lastly we head all the way back to New Brunswick, who have a two horse race between L’Odyssee and Mathieu-Martin with pair combining to outscore their first four opponents 158-0. It’ll be a slugfest when these two finally meet on September 29th with first place on the line, and we can finally found out who’s the class of the East Coast this season.

# Last Year School/Team Mascot City Prov. Conf. Rec. Non-Conf. Rec Week 4
1 3 Collège Bourget Voltigeurs Rigaud QC 3-0 0-0 W 20-12 vs. College Laval
2 10 Holy Trinity Academy Knights Okotoks AB 0-0 4-0 W 42-0 vs. Foothills
3 11 Robert Bateman Timberwolves Abbotsford BC 0-0 3-0 W 42-0 vs. Sardis (AAA)
4 5 Vincent Massey Vikings Brandon MB 2-0 0-0 W 41-0 vs. Elmwood
5 UR Yorkton Raider Gridders Yorkton SK 3-0 0-0 W 86-0 vs. Estevan
6 4 Cochrane Cobras Cochrane AB 3-0 0-0 W 54-3 vs. Bow Valley
7 UR Académie les Estacades Aigles Trois-Rivières QC 3-0 0-0 W 15-10 vs. Pointe-Levy
8 6 Springfield Sabres Winnipeg MB 2-0 0-0 W 42-0 vs. Murdoch MacKay
9 8 Greenall Griffins Balgonie SK 2-0 0-0 W 34-14 vs. Martin
10 9 Holy Rosary Raiders Lloydminster AB 1-0 2-1 W 35-7 vs. Lloydminster
11 21 College Laval Maraudeurs Laval QC 2-1 0-0 L 20-12 vs. College Bourget
12 UR W.H. Croxford Cavaliers Airdrie AB 4-0 0-0 W 31-10 vs. Springbank
13 19 Langley Thunderbirds Langley BC 2-0 0-0 W 16-10 vs. Vernon
14 1 St. Joseph’s Celtics Grande Prairie AB 0-0 2-2 W 45-7 vs. Fort McMurray
15 25 Sheldon Williams Spartans Regina SK 2-0 0-0 W 38-0 vs. Thom
16 UR Dalbé-Viau Aigles D’Or Lachine QC 2-1 0-0 W 28-2 vs. Deux-Montagnes
17 2 Weyburn Eagles Weyburn SK 1-1 0-0 W 27-7 vs. Central
18 7 Vernon Panthers Vernon BC 0-0 1-1 L 16-10 vs. Langley
19 13 George McDougall Mustangs Airdrie AB 1-1 2-0 W 38-14 vs. Strathmore
20 UR Cardston Cougars Cardston AB 1-1 1-0 L 31-0 vs. LCI (AAA)
21 UR Séminaire Saint-Joseph Vert et Or Trois-Rivieres QC 2-1 0-0 W 48-17 vs. Saint-Georges
22 UR South Kamloops Titans Kamloops BC 0-0 1-1 L 28-21 vs. South Delta (AAA)
23 UR L’Odyssee Olympiens Moncton NB 2-0 0-0 W 41-0 vs. St. Malachy’s
24 UR Mathieu-Martin Matadors Dieppe NB 2-0 0-0 W 43-0 vs. Oromocto
25 12 Centennial Chargers Belleville ON 0-0 0-0 BYE

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