Expectations are high surrounding both of the Sudbury Spartans' entries in Ontario Summer Football League (OSFL) play this year (U16AA & U18AA) - and a more challenging run-in than usual to the start of the 2026 regular season is not about to change that.
Both squads are at home this weekend, facing the Oshawa Hawkeyes, with the younger lads kicking things off at 1:30 p.m. at the James Jerome Sports Complex and the elder statesmen taking to the turf at 4:30 p.m.
While there will always be some turnover in the ranks – Confederation Chargers head coach Shane Hutchison takes over the coaching reins from Alex Vendramin with the U18 team this year – there is a sense of stability around practices that gives rise to cautious optimism on both fronts.
“Our defensive side is super senior heavy,” said Hutchison, whose background within the local high-school ranks leaves him very well versed regarding his talent on hand. “Of our 15 overagers, ten are on defense.”
“We’re going to be very physical.”
With the likes of Colton Savage, Jaden Brennan, Cole Preston, Nolan Jokinen, Maddox Preston and so many others all part of the mix, extreme physicality is a given.
That notion extends easily into the U18 Spartans defensive secondary, some of whom have quite comfortably slipped into linebacking roles in the past – and are likely to do so again this summer, at times.
Eighteen year-old Andrew Doré is in his third year with the U18 Sudbury grouping, having played linebacker, halfback and defensive back at times. Whatever his role this year, the mere fact that he sees so many defensive playmakers by his side tends to make his job relatively easy.
“You don’t have to worry about what your teammates are doing because you already know that they’re great and are going to be doing their own thing,” noted the grade 12 product of Lively District Secondary School. “It’s a lot less stressful to just worry about what you have to do, not worry about somebody else not making a play.”
“We’re all making plays out here.”
Working through a handful of sessions of twelve v twelves, Doré suggested the same holds true on the offensive side of the ball for the Spartans. “We have great running backs; they are all amazing,” said the young man who joined current football teammates Koen Palmquist and Ian MacDonald as members of the Nickel City Minor Atom “A” Regional Silver Stick winning team back in 2016-2017.
“They can run; they can hit; they can take a hit; they can catch; they can do everything,” added Doré. With an eye towards running a very balanced attack, Hutchison is scheming to ensure that all of Evan Doyle, Mason McLaughlin, Dylan Nelson, Noah Arsenault, Cam Quesnel, Palmquist and other key skilled position counterparts spend time with the ball in their hands.
“We don’t want to over-complicate things but make it complicated enough to challenge the boys,” said Hutchison, he himself a quarterback back in the day at the school where he now coaches.
That approach is possible largely because of the type of buy-in that is embraced by the Sudbury gridiron athletes who opt to springboard from the fall SDSSAA season to another few months of summer ball once the snow melts.
“All of these guys really want to be here to play football,” said Hutchison. “We can complicate things, come up with different schemes because the base knowledge is there already. This is a giant all-star team – the best of the best.”
Truth is that devotion to the sport of football for most of these gents comes even earlier, certainly by the time they hit the high-school ranks.
Sudbury U16 quarterback Kade Campbell is following in the footsteps of his older brother (Hugh), building around what was undoubtedly plenty of football talk at home and then taking it to another level completely.
“It’s all of the little things that help to make you better,” said the 15 year old grade 10 student, also a member of the Lively Hawks brethren. “It’s the film work. Everyone on the team is watching film. I was watching film earlier today, with a couple of my buddies.”
“I watch film whenever I can.”
These kids are the football embodiment of the “gym rats”, those pursuers of basketball greatness who spend hours upon hours of their own time in their school gymnasiums, the kind of athletes coaches dream of working with.
“We’ve got so many guys practicing football outside of football,” said Campbell, alluding to the notion of teammates supplementing their three times a week practice sessions at James Jerome with each and every opportunity to make their game better.
In the case of the team signal-caller, much of that progress at this stage in his development will come from truly understanding exactly what he sees as he lines up under centre.
“As a quarterback, my job is to read the field,” said Campbell, again emphasizing that time spent in the film room goes a long way towards pre-game preparation. “I’ve got to know where the weaknesses are on the defense and know where our players might have an advantage.”
“We have a lot of players who can do a lot of different things.”
While this is clearly not an all-inclusive list, some players to watch on the Sudbury U16 Spartans roster come Saturday include offensive dynamos Dean Vildis (slotback), Michael Bisschops (running back) and Ryder D’Amours (lineman) while individuals such as Dexter Mailloux (linebacker), Caleb Middaugh (linebacker), Ostin Parro (defensive end) and Byron Marshall (safety) are sure to be leaned upon heavily on the defensive side of things.
“I think we can play whichever we that we want,” said Campbell. “We have that many skill guys, guys who can run the ball, guys who can catch the ball.”
As long as they are not lined up opposite the Sudbury defense.
“We have some really, really big guys that just look scary,” Campbell confessed. “You hear the hits, even during warmups, and it will shake you to your bones.”
With a visual like that, how can folks not be excited about the home openers this Saturday.