OFSAA Football Bowl Recap (Northern Bowl): #CFC50 Etobicoke caps off a miraculous four year journey with their first OFSAA title in school history

Feature photo credit: Ryan McCabe

Four years ago the #CFC50 Etobicoke Rams couldn’t field a senior team, now they are one of the best in the province after defeating the #CFC50 Superior Heights Steelhawks 30-18 in the Northern Bowl.

This game was a barn burner from start to finish, with Superior Heights controlling the action until Etobicoke exploded in the final quarter to pull away with the victory.

Scoring was hard to come by early with the only points of the first quarter coming on a 32 yard boot by Danilo Bakov that gave the Rams a slight 3-0 edge.

Superior Heights asserted their dominance a little over three minutes into the second quarter as Cooper Laframboise capped off a long drive with a two yard touchdown run, but a failed extra point would leave the score at just 6-3.

The defensive stalemate continued until Kristian Shuttleworth hauled in a 13 yard pass from Noah Grigg with just three seconds left on the clock, sending Superior Heights into the locker room up 12-3 after another failed conversion, this time for two points.

Photo credit: Ryan McCabe

Generally an injury to your starting quarterback would spell disaster for your team, but in an odd case this actually worked out better for Etobicoke. After quarterback Max Melville was placed on the sidelines, the Rams’ coaches were forced to improvise facing a nine point deficit with less than two quarters remaining. After giving their junior quarterback a few reps under centre, it turned out a more unconventional solution would be the key to a Rams’ victory.

McMaster running back commit, Justice Allin, was tasked with taking over the throwing duties, and after just three pass attempts he may want to reconsider his position at the next level. Five minutes into the third quarter, lightning struck as Allin connected with #CFC100 Keegan Dicks for a 58 yard touchdown that shrunk the Steelhawks lead to 12-10.

The score would stay that way as Superior Heights fought tooth and nail to keep their slim advantage, and despite Allin’s earlier success, it was starting to look like an OFSAA banner just wasn’t in the cards for Etobicoke.

Allin had different ideas, however, bursting through the line for a seven yard touchdown to give Etobicoke a 16-12 lead with 7:24 left on the clock. Then just under two minutes later, Allin decided he wanted to try his hand a throwing the ball again, hitting Dicks in stride for a 65 yard touchdown that increased the Rams’ lead to 23-12.

The final dagger would come deep in the Steelhawks’ territory as Ryan Haigh scooped and scored on a fumble from two yards out that all but sealed their fate. Laframboise would eventually add his second rushing major with ten seconds remaining, but it was far to late as Etobicoke walked away with a 30-18 victory.

#CFC50 Etobicoke you are Northern Bowl Champions #victoryshower pic.twitter.com/7TPAhjaune

— Ryan McCabe (@CFC_RyanMcCabe) November 30, 2016

“Coming into high school and knowing they had no senior team, playing junior we just had to do what we had to do and hopefully start filling the senior spots.” Dicks explains. “Second year in grade ten we had a senior team, a brand new team and they made it to the city finals and lost to Richview. Then in grade 11 my first year of senior, we played really well and won our first city championship in a long time versus Richview. Then this year our main goal was to just win an OFSAA Bowl, we lost last year so we wanted to get back here and get revenge.”

Allin would end up being the man of the hour finishing with 315 yards from scrimmage, and came just 13 rushing yards short of a football triple-triple, or in other words, 100 yards rushing, receiving and passing. He couldn’t have done it without the assistance of Dicks, who also had an explosive day taking the two passes he caught to the end zone covering 123 yards in the process. On defence Tenzin Tsultrim led the team with six tackles, while grade 11 stand out Samuel Conteh made some unorthodox plays as he crashed in from the back side to make a pair of tackles in the backfield.

The Steelhawks have a lot to be proud about despite heading back to the Soo without a banner. Laframboise put together an impressive performance rushing for 173 yards on 25 carries with two touchdowns, while Joe Rosso led the team with 9 tackles. They may be going home empty handed this time, but expect Superior Heights to be back sooner rather than later riding a streak of three consecutive festival appearances.

In that same time span, Ontario has seen the Etobicoke Rams rise from the ashes, and after getting the job done just four year after restarting their program, it looks like the Rams are well on their way to becoming a Toronto powerhouse who are here to stay.

 

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