From 2009 to 2013, five different schools captured the Copper Cliff Jewellers Trophy, presented to the city high-school senior football champions, over the course of a five year stretch.
In fact, dating back to 2003, every single one of the six institutions who will vie for the honour this year have seen their name engraved on the jolly old mug at least once – with the Collège Notre-Dame Alouettes, focused on reviving the sport this fall with a junior team only, also in the mix thanks to their triumph in 2009.
Interestingly enough, no team has turned the trick more than four times over the course of nearly two decades of competition, with the defending champion Lo-Ellen Park Knights and the St Benedict Bears topping that list during that particular stretch of time, each with a quartet of victories to their name.
The point of all of this being simply that it is not easy to establish any kind of deeply-rooted dynasty, per se, when it comes to this ultra-competitive environment.
That, apparently, has not changed, even when one digs back – well back – though the archives.
The Sudbury Tech Bluedevils and Sudbury High Wolves no longer contest gridiron glory in Sudbury – they merged years later to form Sudbury Secondary School – but in October of 1956, it was the former that was in the middle of a five year run of supremacy, as the Devils swamped the Wolves 33-0 in the city final.
On a mucky, rainy and generally sloppy day, the tone was set early when Tech’s Joe Scagnetti recovered a fumble on the opening kickoff and scampered 25 yards for the touchdown. Named as league MVP earlier in the day, swivel-hipped Bluedevils’ running back Doug McMorran scored his first of the three majors as the champs basically put this contest to rest before the start of the third quarter.
Bob Robinson threw in a second quarter score, Bob McConnell reached paydirt on an 80 yard run to end the game and Tech kicker Maurice Chevrier did the rest, splitting the uprights on three of his five convert attempts. The Bluedevils defense, under the watchful eye of legendary coach Alex MacPherson, did a wonderful job of bottling up the High demon trio of brothers Ron and Connie Jarrett, along with running mate Bob North.
McMorran walked off with the DeMarco Brothers Award after running away with the league scoring race, finishing with 71 points, well ahead of Don Mitchell of St Charles College (42), Marty Puro from Sudbury High (33) and the Cardinals Nelo Nicoli (32).
Come a decade later, the league had expanded nicely and it was reflected on the league hardware as Sheridan Tech, Sudbury High, Nickel District Collegiate, St Charles College and Lasalle Secondary all claimed titles during the sixties.
In fact, between 1966 and 1971, the Lasalle Lancers would earn city bragging rights on four occasions, twice as many times as the next forty years would produce. It was in October of 1966 that coaches Harold Rose, Gabe Guzzo and Paul Dean would manage to take down the Sudbury High powerhouse with Warren Gingell at the helm, the latter sounding a warning about a “Lasalle team to be reckoned with” one year prior to his 6-1 loss in the city final.
But even with talented quarterback Paul Desloriers under centre and running back Ed Taylor a threat to go the distance each and every time he touched the ball, the Lancers were unable to make it a northern double, dropping the NOSSA final, 14-6, to the Sault Ste Marie Wildcats.
As had been the case in two previous NOSSA finals, it was high-stepping fullback John Paat from the Sault who proved to be the difference, ignoring “the Lasalle Lancers tacklers almost as he did the snow covering Queen’s Athletic Field”, in the words of the Sudbury Star reporter of the day.
Interestingly enough, the effort to topple the Sault was a collective affair, with the afore-mentioned Gingell acting as a spotter to assist the SDSSAA champs while St Charles football guru, Father Black, was summoned to discover ways to slow down the Wildcat offense.
The Lancers only scoring would come courtesy of their defensive unit as Moe Westervelt picked off an errant pass from SSM QB Doug Cozac, returning the interception 80 yards to the end zone.
That trend of local parity continued through to the seventies as Lasalle, St Charles, Macdonald-Cartier, Sudbury Secondary, Lo-Ellen and Lockerby all enjoyed the chance to celebrate on the storied grounds of Queen’s Athletic Field.
Though the Lo-Ellen Park Knights would win it all in 1976, it was the Sudbury Secondary School North Stars who would represent SDSSAA in the NOSSA final opposite the White Pines Wolverines from the Lock City.
Numbers had decreased to the point where Lo-Ellen were among the schools who needed to combine forces with other local institutions to put together a team, a reality that ultimately would lead to coach Sid Forster and the Paris Street Blues securing the banner four times between 1984 and 1988.
But a decade earlier, it was future Sudbury Spartan Eugene D’Orazio who would provide the only scoring in the first thirty minutes of the NOSSA final, blasting a 40 yard field goal for a 3-0 North Stars lead in a contest that was held at the Laurentian University field, only a few years after the Voyageurs football program of the late sixties had folded.
In cold early November weather conditions, the Wolverines did a nice job of containing Secondary backs Travis DeBenedet and (future Sudbury Star photographer) John Lappa, with Sudbury pivots George Vujovic and David Kyle no more successful in trying to establish the passing game as the home side dropped a 13-5 decision to White Pines.
