CFC50 Rankings Week 9: Upset in Saskatchewan semis and a new top seed in Manitoba

Who’s ready for some postseason pandemonium across Canada? It’s been another chaotic week of action with a lot of changes on the CFC50 Rankings, and it’s only going to get more unpredictable as we race into November.

We begin in Manitoba where we had a highly anticipated rematch between Dakota and St. Paul’s in the regular season finale. The Crusaders were looking to run the table after defeating the Lancers earlier in the year by a score of 23-20, but Dakota would not take no for an answer this time around clinching first seed in the playoffs with a 29-19 victory. This now sets the scene for a four team showdown with Dakota ready to take on the reigning champions Vincent Massey, while St. Paul’s prepare to take on Oak Park in the semifinals. Will we get the coveted rubber match everyone is waiting for? Or will we get a surprise in the finals? There’s nowhere left to hide and we are eager to see who raises the provincial banner at IG Field on November 12th.

If you’re looking for some motivation for your program’s playoff run, look no further than LeBoldus, who never said die in their semifinals matchup against Riffel in Regina. The Golden Suns suffered a tough 42-7 loss at the hands on of the Royals in the regular season, but looked like a new team this week coming away with a 26-16 victory to advance to the city finals. They’re now looking to repeat the process with a matchup against top five ranked Miller at Mosaic Stadium, who they couldn’t keep pace with in either of their matchups this year with the Marauders outscoring them 56-3 in two contests. It’s going to be a tall task to knock oFf the current provincial title holders, but LeBoldus should be flying high with everything on the line in a one game scenario. We didn’t have any upsets on the other side of the province in Saskatoon with St. Joseph and Holy Cross getting the job done in the semifinals, which means we will have one last clash between these two powerhouse programs in the city finals to decide who will play the winners from Regina for the provincial championship. St. Joseph’s holds the upper hand after defeating Holy Cross by a score of 28-16 a couple weeks ago, but you’re better off flipping a coin when these two programs take to the field on Friday night.

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We now head to Alberta where the playoffs are in full swing, and fittingly on Halloween weekend we had a bit of a scare for top ranked Harry Ainlay in the semifinals. Spruce Grove came out guns blazing on the offensive side of the ball, but their defense simply couldn’t handle the high-powered Titans who outscored the Panthers 48-35 to secure their spot in the finals. On the other side will be a familiar monster with Salisbury having no troubles dispatching Austin O’Brien in their semifinals matchup, and now they’ll be looking to defend their Edmonton Metro title at Commonwealth Stadium on Saturday night. Across the highway in Calgary we’ve got a pair of spooky semifinals matchups tonight with St. Francis preparing to take on Ernest Manning, and Notre Dame ready to do battle with All Saints. Unfortunately there can’t be treats for everybody with two programs going home disappointed on Halloween night.

We’ve finally reached the regular season checkpoint in Quebec, and it’s going to be an all-out sprint to the finish line with every program feeling like they could go on a run. It’s been one of the most unpredictable seasons in recent memory with everyone taking turns shaking up the rankings including Cure-Antoine-Labelle, who appear to be getting hot at the right time. The Loups finished the regular season with another massive 28-27 win over Armand-Corbeil, which on top of their victory over Academie-Saint-Louis last week helped vault them up to fifth seed in the playoff bracket. It’s always better to peak at the end than the beginning, and now Cure-Antoine-Labelle will need to find a way to correct the record against College Notre-Dame in round one, who are coming off a 28-21 loss to Saint-Jean-Eudes to end the regular season. The Condors will be looking to do the same thing against Armand-Corbeil, who they lost to 24-17 earlier in the year, meanwhile Charles-Lemoyne will take on Academie-Saint-Louis in the other first round matchup. Waiting on the sidelines to watch the madness unfold is Seminaire-Saint-Francois, who received a first round bye thanks to their victory over Charles-Lemoyne to earn the tiebreaker.

There’s only one week left to decide the brackets in BC, and once again we had some major movement on the CFC50 Rankings. South Delta are starting to put together a nice run of form at the right time with a 10-7 victory over Notre Dame, and they also defeated Mount Douglas by a score of 25-22 a week ago. Their only two losses of the season came in a 7-0 defeat at the hands of top five ranked Vancouver College, and a 22-14 loss to top 25 ranked Carson Graham, which should make them a great dark horse pick come playoff time. Vancouver College remain the top ranked program in the province, but they continue to endure some battle scars along the way with a tight 13-12 win over Mt. Douglas. It’s important for great programs to learn how to secure the W in pressure situations, and although they’ve looked beatable, nobody has been able to pull the ripcord on their undefeated season so far. They’ll face another hungry opponent in the regular season finale with Notre Dame looking to get back in the win column before the playoffs arrive next week.

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After years of chasing St. Thomas More, the Hamilton Catholic division has finally caught up, but not many would’ve guessed it’d be Bishop Tonnos and Bishop Ryan who would surpass the former number one ranked program in the nation. St. Thomas More struggled to get anything going on offence with turnovers killing any momentum in the first half, and Bishop Tonnos pounced on their opportunity to runaway with 22-0 victory. It’s the first time the Titans have defeated the Knights since 2013, and with the win they’ve now secured the second seed in the playoffs behind Newman. It’s been a wacky year with Bishop Tonnos also defeating Bishop Ryan, who defeated St. Thomas More, who dominated top seed Newman, who coming full circle defeated Bishop Ryan and Bishop Tonnos. Needless to say the records don’t matter anymore with Newman plotting their revenge against rivals St. Thomas More, while Bishop Tonnos look to repeat their triumph against Bishop Ryan in the semifinals this week.

In other news Korah are ahead of schedule taking home their fifth straight Sault Ste. Marie city title, and will now advance to the NOSSA playdowns with the top squads from Northern Ontario. There were no other major surprises with league playoffs taking place across the province, but stay tuned for the madness metre to be turned up to 11 when the regional playdowns begin with 18 spots at the OFSAA Festival hanging in the balance.

Lastly we end our weekly wrap-up on the East Coast where Citadel have retained their moniker of team to beat in Nova Scotia after knocking off defending provincial champions Auburn Drive by a score of 32-8, and followed up with another big win over CEC to finish the regular season undefeated. Across the border in New Brunswick we had no upsets in round one playoff action with Saint John defeating Leo Hayes for the second week in a row, and they’re now hoping to finish the year with their second provincial title in a row as well.

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

#	Last Week	School/Team Mascot	City	Prov.	Conf. Rec.	Non-Conf. Rec	Week 8
1	1	Huron Heights Warriors	Newmarket	ON	0-0	7-0	W 44-7 vs. Holy Trinity
2	2	Harry Ainlay Titans	Edmonton	AB	7-0	2-0	W 48-35 vs. Spruce Grove
3	3	Miller Marauders	Regina	SK	7-0	0-0	W 29-1 vs. Winston Knoll
4	4	Vancouver College Fighting Irish	Vancouver	BC	5-0	3-0	W 13-12 vs. Mt. Douglas
5	6	Notre Dame Fighting Irish	Welland	ON	5-0	1-1	W 29-7 vs. Blessed Trinity
6	7	Salisbury Sabres	Sherwood Park	AB	6-1	1-0	W 49-7 vs. Austin O’Brien
7	8	G.W. Graham Grizzlies	Chilliwack	BC	4-1	4-0	W 48-16 vs. W.J. Mouat
8	15	Dakota Collegiate Lancers	Winnipeg	MB	7-1	0-0	W 29-19 vs. St. Paul’s
9	9	Notre Dame Pride	Calgary	AB	4-0	1-1	vs. All Saints Oct 31st
10	10	Laurier Rams	London	ON	6-0	0-0	W 35-0 vs. Medway
11	11	Sém. St-François Blizzard	Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaure	QC	8-1	0-0	W 34-7 vs. College de Levis
12	5	St. Paul’s Crusaders	Winnipeg	MB	7-1	0-0	L 29-19 vs. Dakota
13	12	Charles-Lemoyne Dynamique	Sainte-Catherine	QC	8-1	0-0	W 33-0 vs. Triolet
14	13	Raymond Comets	Raymond	AB	0-0	5-1- 1	BYE
15	14	St Joseph Guardians	Saskatoon	SK	6-0	0-1	W 52-0 vs. Prince Albert St. Mary
16	16	St. Roch Ravens	Brampton	ON	4-0	1-1	BYE
17	17	Holy Cross Crusaders	Saskatoon	SK	5-1	0-1	W 38-23 vs. Prince Albert Carlton
18	18	St. Francis Browns	Calgary	AB	2-1- 1	0-1	vs. Ernest Manning Oct 31st
19	20	Jacob Hespeler Hawks	Cambridge	ON	6-0	0-0	W 17-0 vs. Elmira District
20	21	Corpus Christi Longhorns	Burlington	ON	6-0	0-0	W 32-0 vs. St. Francis Xavier
21	22	St. Thomas More Knights	Burnaby	BC	5-0	1-2	W 21-14 vs. Lord Tweedsmuir
22	24	Korah Colts	Sault Ste Marie	ON	4-1	0-1	W 37-15 vs. St. Mary’s
23	23	Ernest Manning Griffins	Calgary	AB	2-1–1	2-0-1	vs. St. Francis Oct 31st
24	25	St. Thomas Aquinas Flames	London	ON	4-0	0-0	BYE
25	27	Carson Graham Eagles	North Vancouver	BC	4-1	1-2	W 30-20 vs. Belmont
26	29	Holy Trinity Titans	Oakville	ON	5-1	0-0	W 23-0 vs. Bishop Reding
27	30	St. Andrew’s College Saints	Aurora	ON	2-0	1-3	W 28-0 vs. Kawartha
28	31	Saint-Jean-Eudes Condors	Québec	QC	6-3	0-0	W 28-21 vs. College Notre-Dame
29	32	Terry Fox Ravens	Port Coquitlam	BC	4-1	2-1	W 29-15 vs. Seaquam
30	36	Frontenac Falcons	Kingston	ON	6-0	0-0	W 21-14 vs. Holy Cross
31	37	Westmount Wildcats	Hamilton	ON	5-0	0-0	W 39-13 vs. Sir Allan MacNab
32	38	A. N. Myer Marauders	Niagara Falls	ON	6-0	0-0	W 26-14 vs. West Niagara
33	UR	Bishop Tonnos Titans	Ancaster	ON	5-1	0-0	W 22-0 vs. St. Thomas More
34	UR	Citadel Phoenix	Halifax	NS	7-0	0-0	W 33-16 vs. CEC / W 32-8 vs. Auburn Drive
35	35	Saint John Greyhounds	Saint John	NB	8-0	0-0	W 49-0 vs. Leo Hayes
36	41	Belle River Aigles	Belle River	ON	5-0	0-0	W 42-14 vs. Villanova
37	48	London South Lions	London	ON	4-1	1-0	W 37-7 vs. Oakridge
38	UR	South Delta Sun Devils	Delta	BC	3-2	3-1	W 10-7 vs. Notre Dame
39	39	St. Joan of Arc Knights	Barrie	ON	6-0	0-0	W 21-0 vs. St. Thomas Aquinas
40	43	St. Matthew Tigers	Ottawa	ON	5-0	0-0	W 41-3 vs. Franco-Cite
41	26	St. Thomas More Knights	Hamilton	ON	4-2	0-1	L 22-0 vs. Bishop Tonnos
42	UR	Cure-Antoine-Labelle Loups	Laval	QC	5-4	0-0	W 28-27 vs. Armand-Corbeil
43	19	Armand-Corbeil Scorpions	Terrebonne	QC	5-4	0-0	L 28-27 vs. Cure-Antoine-Labelle
44	33	Academie Saint-Louis Arsenal	Quebec	QC	5-4	0-0	W 18-8 vs. College Jean-Eudes
45	42	College Notre-Dame Cactus	Montreal	QC	5-4	0-0	L 28-21 vs. Saint-Jean-Eudes
46	44	L.C.I. Rams	Lethbridge	AB	4-0	2-2	BYE
47	45	St. John Henry Newman Cardinals	Stoney Creek	ON	5-1	0-0	W 56-0 vs. Cathedral
48	28	Notre Dame Jugglers	Burnaby	BC	3-2	3-0	L 10-7 vs. South Delta
49	46	Centennial Collegiate Spartans	Guelph	ON	6-0	0-0	W 15-14 vs. John F. Ross
50	49	Bishop Ryan Celtics	Hamilton	ON	4-2	0-0	W 55-0 vs. St. Mary’s