NFC: Big showdown in the ‘Sault’ this Saturday. Will Denison’s Titan offense crack the Steeler defense?

BIG SHOWDOWN IN THE SAULT THIS SATURDAY

As the Northern Football Conference season approaches its midpoint, there will be one game this Saturday that will go a long ways to seeing if the two time defending N.F.C. and C.M.F.L. champion Sault Ste. Marie Steelers will keep that streak alive.

The Toronto Titans, formerly Toronto Maddogs, journey to the Queen City this coming Saturday, July 2nd in a battle for first place. Kick-off goes at 7:00 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field. Both teams are 4-0 to this point and have reached their marks in different fashions.
The Titans, with the services of former C.I.S. Hec Crighton winner Tom Denison (Queen’s University 2002 and 2003) have rocketed to their fast start averaging almost 400 yards a game via the air in their first four contests and have four of the top eight receivers in the N.F.C. led by slotback Chris Draffin who leads the way with 443 yards on 24 receptions. Denison has completed 105 of 149 passes for 1,598 yards and 21 majors thus far. He is within reach of two N.F.C. single season passing marks that include yardage set by Jason Ferreira of North Bay in 2002 with 3,200 and touchdown passes held by Jason Hayes of the Hamilton Wildcats established in 1995 with 43.

The Steelers have attained their 4-0 mark with some stout defence, holding opponents to 11 points in 3 games. Last year’s M.V.P., leading scorer, Championship M.V.P. and C.M.F.L. offensive M.V.P. Josh Gauthier showed he was back on form last week at Oakville rushing for 251 yards on 17 carries and crossing the goal line 5 times to vault back atop the League Scoring table with 42 points thus far. Gauthier also moved to the top of the League rushing table with 407 yards on 44 carries for a stellar 9.75 yard per rush average.

There is also another rather remarkable streak on the line this Saturday as well. The Steelers have not lost a regular season home game since June 17, 2006 when the Oshawa Hawkeyes edged the Steelers 29-28. This streak currently stands at 20 wins. The N.F.C. best was 35 by the Sudbury Spartans in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. Coincidently, later that season, the Hawkeyes again went to Rocky DiPietro Field and downed the home side 42-17 on the way to their only N.F.C. and C.M.F.L. titles. That also happens to be the last time the Steelers have dropped a home playoff game. The Titans (Maddogs) have met the Sault 8 teams since joining the N.F.C. in 2001 and have only cracked the win column once over the Steelers (Storm) which came in 2002 by a 13-3 count. Other scores in this series have been:

2010 Semi Final (08/21) Maddogs 6 at Sault 34
2010 July 24 Sault 26 at Maddogs 6
2009 July 18 Maddogs 7 at Sault 35
2006 July 29 Sault 7 at Madddogs 0
2005 June 25 Maddogs 15 at Sault 21
2003 July 12 Sault 27 at Maddogs 20
2002 June 22 Maddogs 13 at Sault 3
2001 June 23 Maddogs 6 at Sault 37

John Metcalf