CFC25 Small School Rankings WEEK 9: Expect the unexpected in November

Let Alberta be a lesson for the rest of the country – there’s no such thing as a guaranteed victory in November.

HEADLINES

Saskatchewan

• One of these days Regina will reign supreme, but that dream will have to wait another year with Weyburn eliminating Greenall from the 5A Provincial playoffs for the third straight season with 33-7 victory. The Eagles now turn their attention to retaining the 5A Provincial title against Aden Bowman, who found no resistance in their semifinals matchup against North Battleford walking away with a 49-9 win. Weyburn are making their third trip to the finals in as many years, and will be motivated to get the job done this time around after Bishop J. Mahoney put an end to their hopes of repeating as champions last season. The Bears on the other hand are looking to become the first team from Aden Bowman since 2009 to taste provincial glory after finally exorcising their demons against Bishop J. Mahoney in the city finals, who put an end to their season in 2021 and 2022.

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Alberta

• George McDougall decided midway through the season to declare for the Tier I Playdowns, but their gamble didn’t payoff with Foothills putting an end to their campaign in a heartbreaking 13-10 defeat. The Mustangs knew Tier I would be a new challenge for the program, and they will need to take this game as a learning experience to help plant the seeds for future success. It’s disappointing we won’t get to see how the Mustangs would’ve faired in the Tier II Playdowns, because we think they had a fantastic chance to battle for their first provincial title since 1999.
• Nine in a row? It sounds like a fantasy, but it’s St. Joseph’s reality after defeating Sexsmith 41-21 to secure their ninth straight Peace Bowl. The Celtics now shift their attention to the Tier II Playdowns where they’ll face a tough squad from Hunting Hills in the quarterfinals. The Lightning have been on a rampage in the Central Alberta League, and managed to finish it off in style with a 20-9 victory over their local rivals from Notre Dame to bring home their first league title since 2019. Both programs suffered losses in the Tier II Playdowns last season, and will be hungry to go all the way this time around.
• Holy Trinity Academy knew they couldn’t falter, and there were zero signs of turbulence in their 40-0 triumph over Springbank to secure their spot in the Tier II Playdowns. The defending Tier II champions will now begin their march towards a fifth straight appearance in the provincial finals, and will be hoping to bring home their third championship banner. Their journey begins with a quarterfinals matchup against Medicine Hat, who defeated Catholic Central 46-0 in the South Zone finals to advance to the Tier II Playdowns, and also earn a spot on the rankings. The Hawks will be praying that this tussle goes differently than last year when these two met in the quarterfinals and Holy Trinity Academy ran way with a 42-6 victory.
• Cochrane are heading to the Tier II Playdowns after flying past Strathmore 39-6 in the South Central Zone finals. If you’ve lost track of the Cobras escapades, they won seven straight Tier III provincial titles from 2014-2021, and then decided last season to try their luck in the Tier I Regional Playdowns where they fell just one point shy of advancing to the championship. This year they’ve decided to drop down to the Tier II Playdowns, and despite their loss to George McDougall in the Rocky View finals, should be feeling very confident about their chances of lifting another banner this year. Their hunt for Tier II glory begins with a quarterfinals matchup against Bishop Carroll out of Calgary, who have run the table with an 8-0 record and will compete for the DII city title against Scarlett/Central on Wednesday night.
• In what might be the most shocking result out of Alberta all year, Holy Rosary fell to St. Paul in the Wheatland Football League championship by a score of 19-15. This is the first league title for St. Paul since 2013, who somehow maintained their confidence and learned from their mistakes after losing an ugly 50-3 game against the Raiders just one month ago. It’s a massive achievment for the Tier IV program, who’ve had to watch the Raiders celebrate year after year as one of the most dominate Tier III schools in the province. Both teams will move onto their respective provincial playdowns with St. Paul receiving a bye to the Tier IV semifinals, and Holy Rosary preparing to take on Whitecourt in the Tier III quarterfinals.

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Manitoba

• It’s the rematch we’ve all been waiting for with Beaver Brae and Fort Frances advancing to the AAA Currie Bowl. There were a lot of question marks heading into the season under the new AAA format, but since the first whistle there’s be zero doubts about who the top two programs were with Beaver Brae and Fort Frances dominating their competition from start to finish. For context, the Broncos outscored their opponents 326-45 riding an eight game winning streak into the finals, while the Muskies outpaced their rivals 339-44 with their only loss coming against Beaver Brae in a hotly contested 22-15 battle for first place. All bets are off with both programs traveling from Ontario to play at IG Field in Winnipeg. One team will be singing all the way home, while the other will have a very long bus ride to think about where they went wrong.

Quebec

• And then there was four. The semifinals are shaping up to be a brawl with College Laval advancing to take on Saint-Joseph after a barnburner 14-7 overtime victory against Pointe-Levy, and Estacades sliding past Deux-Montagnes 28-14 to setup a clash with number one ranked Dalbe-Viau. It’s going to be tough for Estacades to keep pace with Dalbe-Viau, who defeated them 38-10 back in week two, but that game is now ancient history and we all know anything can happen in November. On the other side of the bracket, there’s no clear favourite with Saint-Joseph holding on by the skin of their teeth for a 16-7 victory against College Laval in week three, but let’s not forget the Maraudeurs defeated the Vert et Or in the semis last season. Will we get the highly anticipated clash of undefeated programs between Dalbe-Viau and Saint-Joseph? Or do Estacades and College Laval have some tricks up their sleeve? We can’t wait to find out.

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Ontario

• It was a disappointing ending to a great season for Oakridge, who fell to Medway 10-0 in the semifinals. With an interesting format that mixes the top divisions with the lower divisions in the playoff bracket, it was an unexpected result after Medway finished the regular season 1-5, but their experience from playing top tier CFC50 schools like A.B. Lucas and South clearly worked in their advantage. Regardless of the outcome, the Oaks have a lot to be proud about after outscoring their divisional opponents 207-41 with a 5-0 record in regular season play.
• Holy Trinity are the Non-CWOSSA champions after defeating Simcoe CS 22-15 in the league finals. The Titans only loss came against Simcoe CS back in week two, so it’s a poetic ending with Holy Trinity correcting their wrongs from earlier in the year to leave no doubt about who the best team was this season.
• Lo-Ellen are preparing for the fight of their life after St. Mary’s out of Sault Ste. Marie advanced to the NOSSA finals with an easy 32-2 victory against St. Joseph-Scollard Hall out of North Bay. As we mentioned last week, no team from Sudbury has ever represented NOSSA at the OFSAA Festival, so it’ll take a monumental effort if the Knights want to make history in Northern Ontario.

British Columbia

• We’ve had this matchup circled on the calendar all year long, and they didn’t disappoint with overtime needed to separate Robert Bateman and Holy Cross. The Timberwolves prevailed 20-17 to finish the regular season undefeated and receive the first round bye, but the Crusaders have fired off a warning shot to let Bateman know repeating as AA Provincial Champions will not be an easy task. It’s now playoff time in British Columbia, and we’re looking forward to seeing Robert Bateman, Holy Cross, Vernon and John Barsby finally settle who’s the best team on the West Coast in 2023. Unless of course Cinderella is hiding somewhere waiting to make her grand appearance at the ball.

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

#	Last	School	City	Prov.	Conf. Rec.	Non-Conf. Rec	Results
1	1	Dalbé-Viau Aigles D’Or	Lachine	QC	9-0	0-0	W 42-0 vs. Roger-Comtois
2	3	Weyburn Eagles	Weyburn	SK	8-0	1-0	W 33-7 vs. Greenall
3	2	Robert Bateman Timberwolves	Abbotsford	BC	7-0	3-0	OTW 20-17 vs. Holy Cross
4	4	Aden Bowman Bears	Saskatoon	SK	9-0	0-1	W 49-9 vs. North Battleford
5	6	Holy Trinity Academy Knights	Okotoks	AB	0-0	8-1	W 40-0 vs. Springbank
6	7	Séminaire Saint-Joseph Vert et Or	Trois-Rivieres	QC	9-0	0-0	W 31-19 vs. Triolet
7	11	Holy Cross Crusaders	Surrey	BC	6-1	1-1	OTL 20-17 vs. Robert Bateman
8	8	Vernon Panthers	Vernon	BC	6-0	2-0	W 28-10 vs. South Kamloops
9	9	St. Joseph Celtics	Grande Prairie	AB	8-0	0-1	W 41-21 vs. Sexsmith
10	10	John Barsby Bulldogs	Nanaimo	BC	6-1	1-0	W 35-0 vs. Argyle
11	12	College Laval Maraudeurs	Laval	QC	6-3	0-0	OTW 14-7 vs. Pointe-Levy
12	17	Académie les Estacades Aigles	Trois-Rivières	QC	7-2	0-0	W 28-14 vs. Deux-Montagnes
13	5	George McDougall Mustangs	Airdrie	AB	8-2	1-0	L 13-10 vs. Foothills
14	16	Beaver Brae Broncos	Kenora (ON)	MB	8-0	0-0	W 33-0 vs. Tec Voc
15	18	Lo-Ellen Knights	Sudbury	ON	7-0	0-0	BYE
16	19	Hunting Hills Lightning	Red Deer	AB	6-0	0-1	W 20-9 vs. Notre Dame (RD)
17	20	L’Essor Eagles	Tecumseh	ON	6-0	0-0	W 42-20 vs. Riverside
18	23	Fort Frances Muskies	Fort Frances (ON)	MB	7-1	0-0	W 22-0 vs. Dryden
19	13	Greenall Griffins	Balgonie	SK	7-2	0-0	L 33-7 vs. Weyburn
20	21	Cochrane Cobras	Cochrane	AB	7-2	0-0	W 39-6 vs. Strathmore
21	25	Holy Trinity Titans	Simcoe	ON	6-1	0-0	W 22-15 vs. Simcoe CS
22	UR	Medicine Hat Hawks	Medicine Hat	AB	5-0	2-2- 1	W 46-0 vs. Catholic Central
23	15	Oakridge Oaks	London	ON	6-1	0-0	L 10-0 vs. Medway
24	22	Central Cyclones	Moose Jaw	SK	5-2	0-0	COMPLETE
25	24	Polyvalente Deux-Montagnes Centurions	Deux-Montagnes	QC	6-4	0-0	L 28-14 vs. Estacades