At the Sudbury senior high-school football championship, the Confederation Chargers faced an opponent with a vastly different look than their own in the form of the Lo-Ellen Park Knights – and prevailed.
In the NOSSA final, they faced their mirror image and were not quite so fortunate.
In a contest that feature all but perhaps six offensive plays on the ground, the Korah Colts extended the Sault Ste Marie stretch of dominance, outscoring the Chargers 55-35 in a contest that read 31-28 at the half.
The two-headed backfield monster tandem of Payton Melchiore and A.J. Coccimiglio (6 touchdowns between them) outdueled a very talented Confederation ball carrying unit that featured two majors from Evan Doyle and one each from K.D. Igiehon and Owen Blay – as well as a pick-six from Meeka Duguay.
“They play the same type of football as we do: very physical,” noted Confederation head coach Shane Hutchison. “We’re used to being the bullies on the playground and they came in and bullied us a little bit.”
Hutchison has highlighted, many times this year, the virtues of his front six. This time around, he was tipping his hat to their counterparts from the Lock City as well.
“Like us, they have a great offensive line who block really well,” said Hutchison. “They down block well, they kick out well – and their running backs are very patient to let their blockers get downfield and then follow the blocks really well.”
Koen Manchulenko recorded the remaining major for the visiting Knights while Coccimiglio also tackled the kicking duties, hitting the scoresheet with a field goal and five converts. Domadius Aziz went 5/5 in the PAT department for Confederation.
Despite the setback, the Chargers still have another game to play. With NOSSA earning a pair of OFSAA Bowl bids this year, the Green and Gold will head to Guelph on November 24th to do battle in the Independent Bowl.
With shoutouts to the likes of Colton Savage, Nathan Nadeau, Meeka Duguay and Evan Doyle ("he looked like a man playing with boys, the way he ran through tackles and got to the second level"), Hutchinson is more than ready to face the CWOSSAA number two seed at that time.
The NOSSA junior final would see the St Mary’s Knights from Sault Ste Marie stop the Lo-Ellen Park Knights 37-7 in a game that was sitting at 17-7 in the third quarter of play before Lo-Ellen lost both of their starting running backs, including the all-star that is Levi Blouin to injury.
Dylan Dewar recorded two of the five TDs for the winners, with others coming courtesy of Matthew Circelli, Reegan DeZordo and Cohen Kellar while Blouin answered with the only six-pointer in a losing cause, his touchdown converted successfully by Devun Panella.
