CFC25 Small School RANKINGS WEEK 12: Everyone knows defence wins championships

The finish line is now in sight with only one game left on the CFC25 Small School schedule.

HEADLINES

Alberta

• Do you believe that defence wins championships? Zayden Ward took an interception back to the house in the first quarter, and then Austin O’Brien white knuckled their way through the rest of the journey en route to a hard-fought 7-3 victory over Cochrane to reclaim the Tier II Provincial title for the first time since 2013. It’s been a long time coming for this Crusaders program, who lost two of the last three Tier II Provincial finals – and while it might not happened been the Picasso masterpiece they dreamed of – every championship looks the same in the history books. Austin O’Brien always takes the road less travelled playing in the Edmonton Metro Carr Division stocked full of CFC50 programs like Harry Ainlay, Salisbury, Paul Kane and Bev Facey, so you can never really get a real sense of their standing in the Tier II hierarchy until they get to the Provincial Playdowns, but obviously their challenging divisional schedule prepared them perfectly for this type of battle against Cochrane where they had to rely heavily on mental toughness to see them through the day.

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British Columbia

• John Barsby are heading back to the AA Varsity Provincial Finals after flexing their muscles in a 28-9 victory over Windsor. Last year they fell short in their bid for the banner with a tough 45-14 loss to Robert Bateman, but this time around they’ll be preparing for a different type of animal in the Vernon Panthers, who kept their undefeated record alive with a 37-8 victory against Nechako Valley. Why are the Panthers a different animal? Well Vernon are members of the AAA/AA Interior Division, which showcases schools outside the giant Vancouver Metro area, and in turn that means they haven’t faced any of the top ranked schools yet this season. They did grab a pair of huge wins over Mount Douglas and Langley during the preseason, but those games are ancient history at this point, so we are very excited to see how these two powerhouse programs line up at BC Place on Saturday. Vernon will be looking to bring home their first AA title since 2019 when they went back-to-back, while John Barsby will be gunning to win their first AA title since 2014 when they also repeated as champions. This will be the final day of high school action across Canada, so let’s hope we’ve saved the best for last.

CFC PROSPECT GAME/CFC SELECTION CAMP NOMINATIONS

PAST RANKINGS: WEEK 1 – WEEK 2 – WEEK 3 – WEEK 4 – WEEK 5 – WEEK 6 – WEEK 7 – WEEK 8 – WEEK 9 – WEEK 10 – WEEK 11

#	Last	School	City	Prov.	Conf. Rec.	Non-Conf. Rec	Results
1	1	Weyburn Eagles	Weyburn	SK	9-0	1-0	COMPLETE
2	2	Séminaire Saint-Joseph Vert et Or	Trois-Rivieres	QC	11-0	0-0	COMPLETE
3	4	John Barsby Bulldogs	Nanaimo	BC	8-1	1-0	W 28-9 vs. Windsor
4	3	Académie les Estacades Aigles	Trois-Rivières	QC	8-3	0-0	COMPLETE
5	5	Vernon Panthers	Vernon	BC	8-0	2-0	W 37-8 vs. Nechako Valley
6	6	George McDougall Mustangs	Airdrie	AB	8-2	1-0	COMPLETE
7	7	Dalbé-Viau Aigles D’Or	Lachine	QC	9-1	0-0	COMPLETE
8	10	Aden Bowman Bears	Saskatoon	SK	9-1	0-1	COMPLETE
9	11	Austin O’Brien Crusaders	Edmonton	AB	7-4	0-0	W 7-3 vs. Cochrane
10	9	Cochrane Cobras	Cochrane	AB	9-3	0-0	L 7-3 vs. Austin O’Brien
11	8	Windsor Wolves	North Vancouver	BC	7-3	0-0	L 28-9 vs. John Barsby
12	12	Robert Bateman Timberwolves	Abbotsford	BC	7-1	3-0	COMPLETE
13	13	Holy Trinity Academy Knights	Okotoks	AB	1-1	8-1	COMPLETE
14	14	Fort Frances Muskies	Fort Frances (ON)	MB	8-1	0-0	COMPLETE
15	15	Hunting Hills Lightning	Red Deer	AB	7-1	0-1	COMPLETE
16	16	Holy Cross Crusaders	Surrey	BC	7-2	1-1	COMPLETE
17	17	Lo-Ellen Knights	Sudbury	ON	7-1	0-0	COMPLETE
18	18	St. Joseph Celtics	Grande Prairie	AB	8-1	0-1	COMPLETE
19	19	College Laval Maraudeurs	Laval	QC	6-4	0-0	COMPLETE
20	20	Beaver Brae Broncos	Kenora (ON)	MB	8-1	0-0	COMPLETE
21	21	Greenall Griffins	Balgonie	SK	7-2	0-0	COMPLETE
22	22	Holy Trinity Titans	Simcoe	ON	6-1	0-0	COMPLETE
23	23	Oakridge Oaks	London	ON	6-1	0-0	COMPLETE
24	24	Central Cyclones	Moose Jaw	SK	5-2	0-0	COMPLETE
25	25	Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes Centurions	Deux-Montagnes	QC	6-4	0-0	COMPLETE