CFC25 Small School RANKINGS: Underdogs take over Manitoba AAA semifinals

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• After a three week hiatus that must’ve felt like a year for the players and coaches involved, we are happy to report that high school football is officially back in Alberta. Holy Trinity Academy had the honours of restarting all the chaos that’s about to ensue across the province, and it looks like they didn’t skip a beat with a dominant 56-7 victory against Strathmore in a South Central Zone seeding game. They will now take on George McDougall in the South Central Zone semifinals later this week, while Strathmore will be tasked with trying to bounce back against Cochrane in the other semifinal. The Prairie Sky League 4A semifinals will kickoff later tonight with Catholic Central set to take on McCoy, and on the other side of the bracket Chinook will faceoff against Medicine Hat. The winners of these two contests will then play again on Saturday in the Prairie Sky League 4A finals. Lastly we’ve got a classic rivalry battle between Holy Rosary and St. Paul taking place later this week for the Wheatland League championship.

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• If you needed any reminder about how much regular season results and seeding means in the playoffs, then take a look at the Manitoba AAA semifinals as a lesson. Despite coming in as the lower seeds this past week, we’ll be watching St. Norbert and Dryden go to battle at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday in the AAA championship match. St. Norbert got their revenge against top seeded Churchill with a 17-14 victory after falling to the Bulldogs in the regular season 25-9, while on the other side Dryden clapped back against their Northwestern Ontario rivals Fort Frances in the semifinals with a thrilling 31-24 triumph after losing their previous matchup 17-6. Hopefully St. Norbert take these results to heart, because they could easily enter the championship game overconfident after defeating Dryden 21-0 the last time they met, but we know the coaches already have that speech covered at practice this week. Dryden are in search of their first bowl victory since 2016 when they took home the CanadInn Bowl under the old format, while St. Norbert are looking for their first ever major bowl celebration outside of winning the DII consolation Heavy Metal Bowl back in 2019. Will the banner be staying in Manitoba? Or will Dryden be partying during their 4 hour journey across the border when it’s all said and done?

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• It was a stressful experience for all involved in the Saskatchewan 4A semifinals, but in the end it was Central and F.W. Johnson who kept their composure under the pressure to setup what should be a fantastic championship contest. Central booked their ticket by knocking off the defending champions Carlton in dramatic fashion erasing a 14-3 first half deficit to come away with the 31-24 victory, while F.W. Johnson had to dig deep in a defensive battle to come out on top 15-7 against Bishop J. Mahoney. Central are now looking to lockdown their first 5A provincial title since 2003 when they won three straight, which coincidentally was also the last and only time F.W. Johnson made it this far losing to the Cyclones in 2001. The Wildcats are also carrying the weight of Regina’s long drought at the 5A level with the last time any team from the city took home the honours was O’Neill in 2010. Regardless of the outcome, it’ll be a historic victory for one of these programs who’ve been searching for the promise land for a long time.

CFC100 CLASS 2026 RANKINGS

• There’s only four programs left standing in the race for the Quebec DII Bol d’Or, and the question on everyone’s mind is does anybody have what it takes to knock off the number one team on our ranking Dalbe-Viau? They’ll be feeling fresh coming off a well-earned bye as they prepare to take on Saint-Joseph, who are coming off a hard fought 15-12 victory over Triolet in the quarterfinals. The first time these two met was all the way back in the season opener when Dalbe-Viau asserted their dominance with a 42-27 victory, but that game is ancient history at this point. On the other side we’ve got a very intriguing rematch between St-Jean-Vianney and Estacades, who are coming off an impressive 37-14 performance against College de Levis in the quarterfinals. St-Jean-Vianney had to fight a little harder to claim their 28-21 victory over Deux-Montagnes, but that was likely just a preview of what’s to come when these two faceoff again after the Dragons prevailed in overtime 38-31 against the Aigles back in week three. Only two programs can survive this weekend, who’s it going to be?
• Confederation kept the good times rolling against Algonquin in the NOSSA semifinals with a 42-0 shutout performance. Their reward is a big date with CFC50 10th ranked Korah in the finals with a trip to the OFSAA Bowl Series hanging in the balance. Everyone on the Confederation sideline knows they’ve got a monumental task ahead of them trying to knock off a Korah juggernaut that’s won five out of the last six NOSAA banners, but November is when fairytales are written, and anything can happen once the whistle blows. If they do manage to pull it off, they’ll become the first team since 1969 to bring the trophy back to Sudbury. Do you believe in miracles?

CFC60 JUVENILE RANKINGS

• Holy Cross are one step closer to another OFSAA trip after shutting down Thomas A. Stewart 23-0 in the Kawartha finals. They’ve got one more rung on the ladder left to navigate with a battle against the Bay of Quinte champions Centennial in the COSSA finals.
• Sherwood are one step closer to completing a perfect season in the Hamilton public DII conference after finding little resistance in their 36-0 blowout victory over MacNab in the semifinals. They’re now preparing to lock horns with Sir Winston Churchill in the finals, who they dominated 30-0 in their regular season matchup. This group of Saints are looking to join a very exclusive club as only the second team in school history to bring home the banner with their first championship coming way back in 1993.
• Ingersoll are off to the TVRA Tier II finals after breezing past Montcalm in the semis with a 33-7 victory. They’ll now face their toughest test of the year with a rematch against Saunders in the championship after these two programs couldn’t decide a winner during their regular season matchup playing to a 7-7 draw. The Blue Bombers are hoping to raise their first banner since 2011.
• Are you ready for some playoff football in British Columbia? There’s just eight teams left in the hunt for the AA title, and we’ve got some great matchups in the opening rounds that could throw a grenade into the rankings if the underdogs come out on top. In the opening round we’ll have Vernon taking on Nechako Valley, Holy Cross battling Mt. Douglas, Argyle facing off against Ballenas, and John Barsby squaring up with South Kamloops.

#	Last	School	City	Prov.	League	Non-League	USA	Results
1	1	Dalbé-Viau Aigles D’Or	Lachine	QC	9-0	0-0	0-0	BYE
2	2	Holy Trinity Academy Knights	Okotoks	AB	0-0	5-2	0-0	W 56-7 vs. Strathmore
3	3	Holy Rosary Raiders	Lloydminster	AB	1-0	4-0	0-0	Did Not Play
4	4	Vernon Panthers	Vernon	BC	5-0	3-0	0-0	W 44-0 vs. Pleasant Valley
5	10	Central Cyclones	Moose Jaw	SK	8-0	1-0	0-0	W 31-24 vs. Carlton
6	6	Holy Cross Hurricanes	Peterborough	ON	6-0	0-0	0-0	W 23-0 vs. Thomas A. Stewart
7	7	St-Jean-Vianney Dragons	Montreal	QC	9-1	0-0	0-0	W 28-21 vs. Deux-Montagnes
8	8	Confederation Chargers	Sudbury	ON	7-0	1-0	0-0	W 42-0 vs. Algonquin
9	13	F.W. Johnson Wildcats	Regina	SK	6-0	1-2	0-0	W 12-7 vs. Bishop J. Mahoney
10	11	John Barsby Bulldogs	Nanaimo	BC	6-0	2-0-1	0-0	W 7-6 vs. Ballenas
11	12	George McDougall Mustangs	Airdrie	AB	5-0	1-1	0-0	Did Not Play
12	5	Carlton Crusaders	Prince Albert	SK	6-0	1-2	0-0	L 31-24 vs. Central
13	9	Bishop J. Mahoney Saints	Saskatoon	SK	6-0	0-3	0-0	L 12-7 vs. F.W. Johnson
14	15	North Star Wolves	Amherstburg	ON	7-0	0-0	0-0	W 35-0 vs. Cardinal Carter
15	18	Sherwood Saints	Hamilton	ON	6-0	0-0	0-0	W 36-0 vs. Sir Allan MacNab
16	16	Cochrane Cobras	Cochrane	AB	5-0	0-0	0-0	Did Not Play
17	20	Argyle Pipers	North Vancouver	BC	6-0	0-2	0-0	W 36-0 vs. Windsor
18	21	Estacades Aigles	Trois-Rivières	QC	7-3	0-0	0-0	W 37-14 vs. College de Levis
19	19	St. Joseph’s Celtics	Grande Prairie	AB	1-0	3-2	0-0	Did Not Play
20	UR	St. Norbert Celtics	Winnipeg	MB	6-3	0-0	0-0	W 17-14 vs. Churchill
21	UR	Dryden Eagles	Dryden	MB	7-2	0-0	0-0	W 31-24 vs. Fort Frances
22	23	Ingersoll Blue Bombers	Ingersoll	ON	6-0-1	0-0	0-0	W 33-7 vs. Montcalm
23	UR	Saint-Joseph Vert et Or	Trois-Rivieres	QC	6-4	0-0	0-0	W 15-12 vs. Triolet
24	24	Catholic Central Cougars	Lethbridge	AB	2-1	4-0	0-0	Did Not Play
25	25	Chinook Coyotes	Lethbridge	AB	1-2	2-0	0-0	Did Not Play