Sault Steelers to host NFC final next week

For the fourth season in a row, the Sault Steelers and Tri-City Outlaws will meet in the Northern Football Conference championship.

Both teams booked tickets to the final with victories on Saturday night. The Steelers defeated the Toronto Maddogs 34-6 while Tri-City defeated the Toronto Raiders 27-14.

The Steelers are looking to get back to the Canadian Major Football League championship for the third time in four years. In their previous two appearances, the Steelers picked up victories, both over the Edmonton Stallions, in 2007 in Oshawa and last September in Sault Ste. Marie.

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On Saturday, the Steelers opened up a 14-0 lead through one quarter, thanks to a Joe Storozuk catch and a Josh Gauthier run, and never looked back.

A Maddogs touchdown early in the second quarter cut into the lead but the visitors could not maintain any sort of momentum as the Steelers scored a pair of touchdowns, on passes from Travis McLean to Matt Premo and Gauthier, in the final five minutes of the half to seal the victory.

Anthony Posteraro kicked a pair of field goals in the second half to round out the scoring.

McLean finished the night having completed 14 of 19 passes for 169 yards and three touchdowns. Todd Hicks caught five of those passes for 64 yards. Gauthier ran the ball for 178 yards on 19 carries and also caught two passes, one for a touchdown.

On the defensive side of the ball, DJ Idehen had 5.5 tackles and an interception while Jason Brunetti had four. Gord Campbell had three tackles and a sack while Adam Ross also had an interception.

Receiver Ron Kelly, who played his first game of the season last week against Sarnia, did not play against Toronto. Kelly missed the game while attending a wedding.

For Toronto, quarterback Chris Foster finished the day 16-for-30 for 211 yards passing and also ran for 21 more yards on two carries. Philip Dixon led the way with six catches for 51 yards. Defensively, Kevin Knight had 5.5 tackles.

The Steelers and Outlaws met once during the regular season with the Outlaws picking up a 21-17 win at home on July 31. The Outlaws will also be looking to get back to the National Championship after losing in 2008.

In their previous three NFC Championship meetings, the Steelers beat Tri-City 23-10 in 2007 and 21-18 last year while Tri-City won by a 21-10 score in 2008.

Game time next Saturday is 7 p.m. at Rocky DiPietro Field.

The winner of the NFC championship will then travel to Red Deer, Alberta to take on the Alberta League champions in the Canadian Major Football Championship. The game is set for Sept. 25.

By Brad Coccimiglio
SooToday.com
Saturday, August 21, 2010