A few months ago, Notre Dame was on the brink of shutting down its football team.
Now the defending champions are just a game away from going back to the tier-one final.
Slotback Stone Sousa had three touchdowns and Bamki Adewale ran for one as Notre Dame routed St. Roch 33-0 on Wednesday to clinch a playoff berth in the Region of Peel Secondary Schools Athletic Association.
The Knights (5-1) advanced in the final week of the regular season by virtue of having the best record among the second-placed teams in the Ropssaa.
Waiting for them in next week’s semifinal is North division rival St. Marguerite d’Youville, in a match-up featuring the last two tier-one champions.
The Panthers completed their six-game undefeated run through the regular season with a victory by default over St. Thomas Aquinas on Thursday. The game was scored 21-0 in the Panthers’ favour.
The other semifinal pits two programs that also swept their respective divisions: the Central’s St. Edmund Campion and the South’s St. Joan of Arc.
St. Edmund rallied from a first-quarter deficit to beat St. Augustine 14-6 on Wednesday, while St. Joan of Arc downed Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 19-6, on Thursday.
Notre Dame coach Dario Pretto revealed that the school nearly didn’t have a squad this season with the departure of several of its coaches but formed a staff just in time to get its campaign off the ground.
“The team was essentially going to fold. You cannot coach a team with just one person. So [the program] was on life support then it was brought back,” Pretto said.
“Basically coming from where we were to where we are, it’s just a huge blessing. To be playing football this year, never mind the playoffs, this is fantastic.”
St. Marguerite, which had already secured a playoff ticket entering the final week of the regular season, looked to sharpen its form against St. Thomas in preparation for the playoffs.
But coach John Paul Falacho was informed by St. Thomas team officials on Wednesday night that the Cardinals were forfeiting the game, because they didn’t have enough players coming to practice.
The Panthers finished their campaign with the best offence, scoring 254 points and limiting opponents to just six points overall, the lowest in the league.
“I believe this is one of the strongest teams we’ve had here,” Falacho said.
“Our guys work hard everyday. They believe in our team, they believe in each other and they believe in our system. Their work ethic is great.”
In the Central division, it’s been a sharp turnaround for St. Edmund, which was in tier two in 2010 and limped to a 1-5 record a year ago.
With the league realigning and introducing a four-team Central division, the Bears took advantage of the changes for the sweep.
In its last game of the regular season, St. Edmund faced budding Central rival St. Augustine, which entered the game with a puncher’s chance of qualifying for the postseason.
The Falcons scored the game’s first TD, but the Bears equalised later in the first half thanks to safety Royce Metchie’s score then pulled ahead on Brandon Ihanza’s convert.
Fullback Colin Ramos’ TD and another extra point by Ihanza sealed the deal for coach Oliver Ocampo’s squad.
“In the second half, we ended up lucky, getting some good ball placements,” Ocampo said.
“We were able to punch one in when we sacked their quarterback in the 1-yard line which really put us in good field position and we were able to hammer than one in with a touchdown.”
In the South, St. Joan of Arc ousted Mount Carmel in a low-scoring game between two of the league’s top-five offensive teams.
The fight to be the division’s postseason representative also boiled down to the final game, and the Angels got more out of their special teams, which saw Daniel Voci make four field goals.
Nick Voci, Daniel’s brother, scored the lone TD for the Angels.
“We have a lot of respect for Mount Carmel,” St. Joan of Arc coach Tom Pianta said.
“We know they’re a physical and talented team and we knew it was going to be a close game and a hard-fought game, and it was.”
In other Week 7 games, St. Francis Xavier edged Meadowvale 22-21 on Wednesday, while St. Marcellinus topped Lorne Park 25-0 and St. Michael beat Mayfield 24-18 on Thursday.
The South’s final standings have St. Marcellinus, playing in its first season in the division transferring from the North, finishing second with a 4-2 record followed by St. Francis (3-3), Lorne Park (3-3), Meadowvale (1-5) and St. Joseph (0-6) in that order.
In the North, St. Roch (4-2) settled for third place while St. Thomas (2-4), Mayfield (2-4), St. Michael (2-4) and Cardinal Ambrozic (0-6) round out the division in that order.
In the Central division, Philip Pocock (2-4) ended up third and Fr. Goetz (0-6) last.
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