NFC: Experienced Outlaws look to defeat Ottawa Invaders in finals Saturday

The Ottawa Invaders and Tri City Outlaws have created Northern Football Conference history in that as the 4th and 3rd seeds in the 2011 playoffs, by eliminating the higher seeds, Toronto Titans (8-0) by Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie Steelers (7-1) by Tri City, neither the first or second place team will be in the N.F.C. final for the first time in the League’s 58 year history.
The finalists met way back in Week 1 on May 28th in the nation’s capital and the Outlaws held on for a 24-21 victory. In that game, the Outlaws led 24-7 entering the fourth quarter and survived two late Invaders touchdowns for the win. That contest saw a balance of pass and run by the Tri City offence (155 rush, 199 pass) while the Invaders relied more on their ground attack which saw them amass 204 yards led by Curtis Cates’ 128 yards.

Experience may play a key role in this Saturday’s contest. The Outlaws are in the N.F.C. final for the fifth consecutive year and six of the last seven. Tri City won titles in 2005 over Milton 13-9 and over the Sault 23-10 in 2008. The 2005 title saw the Outlaws become the lowest seed ever, finishing sixth, to take the N.F.C. title. The Invaders enter their first ever N.F.C. title match in only their second year in existence! Both teams were full measure for their semi final wins. The Outlaws never trailed in the Sault as they built a 14-3 half time lead based on prolonged drives on the ground and taking advantage of a 65 yard interception return by Dustin McKenna enroute to their 21-9 triumph. The Invaders got down early to the League Champ Titans, however, showed their metal as despite the Titans scoring on their first drive of the game, Ottawa responded with an almost 9 minute drive to even matters and never let the Titans get too far ahead setting up Kyle Kavanaugh’s touchdown and winning extra point by Jeff Morris with 11 seconds remaining to book their spot in the final.

Offensively, both teams are almost even as the Invaders scored 248 points in the regular season and the Outlaws were just behind with 247 points in eight games. On defence, the Invaders have proved a little stingier allowing only 117 points, which ranked third in the League and Tri City allowed 163 points which ranked fourth.

The Outlaws will rely on the play of pivot Bryan Rosekat to guide the offence. Rosekat ranked 2nd in League passing stats completing 89 of 125 passes for 1,604 yards. This was complemented by 14 touchdowns throws and only 3 interceptions thrown. One of his favourite targets is Aron Froese who latched on to 19 catches for 582 yards and an eye popping 30.63 average per catch. The Invaders were a two quarterback squad between Jeff Hildreth who ended up 5th in the passing table with 53 completions in 90 attempts for 933 yards to go with 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. The other half, was Mike McPherson who completed 46 of 76 throws for 785 yards and 9 touchdown tosses with only 1 interception. Their favourite target was slotback Kyle Kavanaugh who caught for 682 yards on 30 catches to lead the League. Another force for the Invaders is last year’s Rookie of the Year, Brandon Weekes who this year contributed 22 catches for 438 yards and crossed the goal line 6 times. On the ground, Tri City will be led by veteran and all time rushing leader Jon Nedeljkovic who was fourth on the League rushing list with 427 yards and Ottawa will rely on Curtis Cates who was sixth with 368 yards.
On defence, both units have marquee players. Ottawa is led by Rhami Aboud who led the League with 6 interceptions and 58.5 points on the League defensive scoring chart. Three of those picks were returned for touchdowns. The Outlaws secondary is led by 2008 Rookie of the Year Dennis Lyte who was second with 5 interceptions and veteran Linebackers Shane Everest and Craig Davoren who have been perennial all stars.

Either way, this looks to shape as a dandy as the Outlaws seek their third title and the Invaders, their first. The winner of this contest will host the Alberta champion, either Grand Prairie or Calgary Wolfpack for the Canadian Senior title some time in September.