The Sudbury Spartans play a summer schedule within the Northern Football Conference, as do both Jr Spartans entries as part of the Ontario Summer Football League.
Notice the preponderance of "summer" in all of the above.
By contrast, the Joe MacDonald Youth Football League is a fall circuit, running through until the end of October.
But for Opening Day, 2023, Mother Nature was very, very confused.
As the Tykes (oldest of the JMYFL groupings) took to the field to close off the 30th Anniversary Festivities from 2:00 p.m. until 3:30 p.m. or so, temperatures hovered around the thirty degree mark (Celsius), not a particularly typical Labour Day setting in Sudbury.
And while much of the day celebrated the "founding fathers" of the JMYFL: Sid Forster, Chris Bartolucci, Mike Staffen, Neri Fratin, Al Lekun, Mike Fabiilli, Frank Pagnucco and John Larsen, there was also plenty of young football talent on the field providing ample proof that the future of the sport is alive and well in Sudbury.
Team Blue running back Levi Blouin busted loose for a pair of long touchdown runs, had a third major nullified by a holding call and had another sure-fire sprint to the end zone quashed only by an outstanding open field solo tackle by Kingston Pitawanakwat.
Finding the running lanes seems to be very much second nature for the grade eight student at Valley View Public School.
"First, I look at the linebackers and try and get through them and then see what side the safety is on and try and stay away from them," explained Blouin.
Mind you, if worse came to worse, there is always the option of simply running over an opponent, a strategy that the 13 year-old prospect may have carried with him from his other primary summer sport pursuit. "I started playing lacrosse a few years ago and realized that I really liked contact sports; so I tried football," noted the member of the Sudbury U15 Rockhounds.
Of course, Blouin was not alone in grabbing the spotlight at various instances.
With a few first half tackles and a couple of second half QB sacks, Logan Gordon (Team Blue) was making his presence felt on the defensive side of the ball. Teammate Mason Hofford was often in the thick of things when it came to grounding a Team Red ball carrier while defensive back/linebacker Byron Marshall added the third major for the Blue side with a 50 yard pick six off an interception just inside the midfield stripe.
Team Red countered with a defensive unit that often featured Liam Ramalho and plenty of gang tackling as strength in numbers helped contain the Blue offense, more often than not - until Blouin would break free.
Speaking of numbers, benches on both sides were sitting at thirty or so, allowing for full 12-man units and plenty of substitutions, with a number of youngsters getting a crack at skilled positions.
Just before the end of the opening half, Team Blue pivot Benoit Lagrandeur connected with wideout Harley Laalo Jr and later with Noah Steen as a handful of very experienced football coaches ensured that the offenses were not limited to one handoff after another.
Gia Rocca enjoyed her stint at QB, a far different position from where her father (Frank) excelled during his NCAA career at Eastern Michigan and his four years as an offensive lineman in the CFL.
"My brother (Dante) has played for three years now and my dad, well, he's my dad - he played for a while," the grade 8 Marymount Academy student said with a smile. "They tried to convince me to do it last year and I didn't - and I kind of regret that because it's actually really fun."
To boot, she shares a very close connection to her younger sibling (Dante is 11) as the pair took to the field together for multiple Team Red offensive plays. "He's my centre, so he gets to snap to me," said Gia. "That's what he's been playing and he's really good at it. My dad suggested I tryout at quarterback, so I thought "why not?" - and I made it."
For a week one outing, the contest definitely had the look and feel of football - even if the signal-caller of the Rocca clan was a tad tough in her own self-assessment. "I thought I could have done better, myself," suggested the 13 year old multi-sport athlete who also enjoys basketball.
"I did miss a few throws. I knew I would mess up a little bit, but my teammates were really nice about it."
Rocca has not yet made a decision on her secondary school of choice though the recent addition of girls tackle football at St Benedict CSS has certainly given her more food for thought.
"I've known about the girls' flag football for a while and I am really excited to try it," she said. "And I kind of want to play tackle football in high-school, but we'll see how that goes."
All in all, JMYFL president Jimmy Bartolucci had little to complain about from a day that was some time in the making - other than needing a few hours to recover.
"There were no hitches, no glitches, the kids played awesome and the weather was awesome," he said. "Co-hosting with Greater Sudbury Police Services was amazing. It was just a really good day - but I'm tired, we're tired."
"The volunteers, the executive have been working on this for a month to make this happen."
Now in his third year at the helm of Joe Mac Football, Bartolucci is thankful for all of the assistance he received.
"It's great that we finally have a full complement, a full executive and that everyone is moving in the same direction," he said. "It makes my life really easy. Steering the ship has never been easier when everyone is rowing in the same direction."
Early in the day, three more bursaries under the Joe MacDonald Scholarship Fund were presented, with Mikhail Sidun, Braedyn Charette and Justin Faucher honoured as the 2023 recipients.
