Trojans defensive player Zach St. Denis (89) and the team rush the field to celebrate their 2013 NOSSA Championship. Photo by Mark Pare.
It’s ironic how labels shift around when a bigger prize is on the line.
The West Ferris Trojans quickly became the underdog Saturday afternoon in the NOSSA Senior Football Championship, but they overcame it and notched a thrilling 22-21 victory at the Steve Omischl Sports Complex against the Soo’s Superior Heights Steelhawks.
The Hawks weren’t expected to even come out of the Soo with a 2-4 regular season record, but they did and made it to this game, where they were considered the favourite for a good reason: A Soo-based team has taken every title since 1996.
Trojan running back Zack Delorme was born in 1995, the same year the Chippewa Raiders claimed the “Poupore Cup”.
Delorme says to bring a championship to West Ferris shows that Sault Ste. Marie can be beat by North Bay.
The last time West Ferris held NOSSA glory was 1991 but the 10-0 Trojans aren’t thinking that far back.
“We were aware of that streak,” said head coach Mark Robertson, “But we were also aware of the ability in our locker room and the heart that they have and the experience we went through this year. We talked about that today, experience. Not losing our heads and the will to push through when things are battling so hats off to those kids man, they deserve it. They worked hard and Offensive Coordinator (Tyson) Brear, he did an amazing job. Rick Mitchell, those guys deserve all the credit. I just give the speeches.”
Matthew Valiquette threw a touchdown to Colin Trach and rushed in another for the victory. Running back Zach Delorme rushed in a touchdown on the first Trojan possession while the defense added a third quarter safety.
The game was potentially on the foot of Steelhawks kicker Brett MacDonald with under a minute to go, but he hooked a field goal to the left and the Trojans got possession to finish things.
“There was a shift in the mentality on about Tuesday night and we just started really believing that we can do this, this is possible,” said Robertson, “We prepared really well and the kids believed in each other and we battled man and good things happen.”
The Steelhawks’ Stevan Hiiemma put up around 150 all-purpose yards with the vast majority of it on the ground but it wasn’t enough.
The Steelhawks got into penalty trouble for much of the game, committing penalties in the double digits, costing them some field and it helped shift the momentum early. After converting on third down, the visitors took three straight penalties to move them back and the defense held strong.
Delorme put in his 4-yard TD run after a nine-play drive that saw the home side excel on two third-down situations on their first time out and it was 7-0.
“The first half, I thought we started off really well and we punched in the first touchdown of the game, which was really nice,” said Delorme, “We started passing off really well and they started to creep in on us a little bit and stop a lot of our runs.”
Superior Heights got the ball back and they still were getting flagged for procedure but they stuck to it and got their first points on the board when Hiiemaa rushed in a 17-yard score with some great evasive moves around the defense. They failed to convert on a two-pointer so the Trojans remained in the lead by one.
After a three-and-out by West Ferris, the Steelhawks got a rouge to tie it up at seven.
A 13-play drive led to the Trojans’ next touchdown to take a 14-7 lead soon after. It was Colin Trach getting the ball seven yards into the house.
It wouldn’t last long as the play of Hiiemaa on the ground opened up the Steelhawks’ passing game and a wide open Mike Bogensberger accepted a 45-yard TD pass to get even going into the half.
The Trojans pinned the Steelhawks deep in the third quarter and earned the safety when Hiiemaa was dragged down in the end zone to make it 16-14.
The defense stepped up again as Marc Rancourt intercepted an Elgie pass but the Trojans couldn’t do anything with it.
The lead slipped away temporarily after Hiiemaa ran in for his second TD of the game for a 21-16 lead but quick to match, the Trojans answered with a 13-play drive of their own after recovering an onside kick.
It was capped off by a QB run by Valiquette and a failed attempt at two points still had the Trojans up for good.
Donovan Scott recovered a late fumble to drain some time down but it wasn’t over just yet. On the 13th play of their next drive, the Steelhawks were looking for field goal range and had to convert a fourth down to get further. MacDonald’s missed field goal led to a couple of kneels and from there, the game was over and Trojan faithful rushed the field.
“Everyone is all about ‘Soo football’ and how they’re great and were coming in and we win by one point, that’s crazy,” said Valiquette, “This is fun.”
“To win that close of a game, were both such equal teams, I thought the scoreboard actually showed that and to win, even by a little is just amazing,” added Delorme.
In the win, the Trojans will play in the OFSAA Bowl in Etobicoke on Wednesday, November 27 against the TDSSAA Champions from the Toronto area.
“Obviously being at OFSAA, it’s going to be a really tough game and we’re going to have to pull off another win and try really hard,” said Delorme.
“We can’t let anything back so that’s going to be a tough game most likely but hopefully we can pull it off.”