There’ll be no time to relax between games on the third and final day of the festival as the #CFC50 No. 19 Etobicoke Rams take on the #CFC50 No. 27 Superior Heights Steelhawks in a battle for the Northern Bowl.
There is a good reason why both of these teams have become mainstays on the #CFC50 rankings, and with the words “perfect season” on the tips of each of their tongues, it may come down to the final few plays before we have a decisive winner in this one.
Etobicoke comes into this game after playing arguably their best football of the year in a 41-0 victory over Lawrence Park in the Toronto public finals, which is what every team hopes to be saying at this time of year. It took the Rams a little while to get their offence going this year, but as the year wore on Etobicoke’s Head Coach, Paul Dias, was very pleased with how his team progressed,
“We knew we had a lot of skill guys on offence and we hoped that would continue to flourish from last year, and even now our quarterback is making first, second and third reads, the receivers are running routes, and people aren’t missing practices they are committed.”
Final Score: Etobicoke CI defeats Lawrence Park CI 41-0! ECI will move on to the OFSAA bowl??? #ecitillidie
— ECI Athletics (@EtobsAthletics) November 23, 2016
The Rams’ offence features two running backs who are capable are dangling their way out of a phone booth, and the best part for Etobicoke is that one of them hasn’t even hit grade 12 yet. The lead workhorse is McMaster commit Justice Allin, who has been a force to be reckon with this year racking up over 250 yards of total offence on one occasion, and much of the offence will run through him if he is on his game. If not, grade 11 standout Samuel Conteh has no issues picking up the slack, but for the most part, it has been a pick your poison type scenario with both talented runners scoring touchdowns in multiple games this season. A hidden talent of Conteh – or maybe not so hidden – are his abilities at linebacker and defensive end, so watch for him on both sides of the field making plays with his blinding speed,
“He is a grade 11 kid, and Justice has been such a mentor to him.” Dias says with pride. “Samuel may be more physically gifted, he does play a little defence, but he is a running back and he has torn it up the last two years in junior. He is a very good running back, and we hope he can follow in Justice’s footsteps off to university.”
Speed is something Superior Heights also have in their bag of tricks, with Isaac Belito being of particular note who has been a favourite of quarterback Noah Grigg. The Steelhawks are not content to just rely on a duo of star players, however, with receivers Kristian Shuttleworth and Connor Brechin posing as major threats to the Rams’ secondary as well. Out of the backfield, try to keep your eyes on Cooper Laframboise as he runs by defenders – at least he hopes. Laframboise has been a consistent name on the scoresheet for Superior Heights, and if the Rams defence is not aggressive it may be the same story in this one. Dias says getting pressure on Grigg is the key,
“They pass very well, they have some speed. It looks like their passing game is definitely their strength so our defence will need to get pressure on their quarterback. I have seen a little bit of tape and the quarterback seems to have tons of time. They throw the home run ball a lot and I understand why, they have the time.”
Photo courtesy of Kenneth Armstrong/SooToday
This will be the Steelhawks third trip to the festival, and they hope when they leave it’ll be with their second banner in three years.
A problem for Superior Heights, however, is that aggressiveness is one thing that the Rams are known for. In eight games this season, Etobicoke managed to blank five of their opponents, and the most any team cobbled together against them was a mere 16 points – and for what it’s worth they shut the same team out the following week. Dias says that the defence’s play this season has been one of his proudest coaching moments,
“We graduated our four linebackers, two of them to U Sports, so we thought we were going to struggle in there, but the young kids are a year older, they are a year stronger, and they are a year smarter.”
On the other side of the field, Superior Heights defence has lacked the shutouts the Rams have accumulated, but a team doesn’t remain undefeated if they have a bad defence. They have been led by Nick Wildman, Justin Cond and Andrew Batman, but they will need all hands on deck to stop the Rams full offensive arsenal.
While this comes late in the article, make no mistake that Etobicoke quarterback Max Melville and #CFC100 receiver Keegan Dicks will be two guys that the Steelhawks will want to pay close attention to. Like Allin, both Dicks and Melville are university bound next season, and will be looking to close out their high school careers with a win.
They will have to fight for every yard in order to achieve that goal, but Dias says he is taking a very open approach to this game after losing at the festival last year,
“We learned from just being there on that stage and being in the stadium, I think they will be more comfortable. We just want to make it fun, entertaining and try and get a win”
You won’t want to miss this matinee showcase, kickoff is scheduled for 1:00pm at Tim Hortons Field.
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