The St Benedict Bears girls tackle football team have come a long way in just five short years.

Back in May of 2022, the St Mark Lions from Ottawa edged the Bears 17-14 at the James Jerome Sports Complex, marking the first time that a competitive girls tackle game had been contested between high-schools from different cities in Ontario.

Technical skills were still more than a little rough around the edges and tactical schematics were kept to a minimum – but there was no mistaking that a North American football game was taking place.

Last week in Kingston, St Benedict would go toe to toe, yet again, opposite a foe from the nation’s capital, this time with the Football Ontario High School Girls Tackle Football banner on the line.

With the contest tied at 22-22 as the final whistle sounded, the Bears and the St Joseph Jaguars went to overtime, with nickel city running back Awosika Olaterere scampering to the end zone with the game-winning score not all that long after the St Ben’s defense made a stand on the first sequence of quarter number five.

“Our coach (Junior Labrosse) had talked to the captains; we wanted their offense to go on first,” noted 17 year old veteran defensive back Mealla Lacroix from Sudbury. “That way we could focus just on stopping them and giving our offense a chance to score.”

Where the Bears pulled away in the second half for a comfortable win when these teams first met two weeks earlier in northern Ontario, the heavy expectations on the St Benedict side in the rematch presented something of a pitfall.

“We went into the game fairly nervous, especially for me and the other seniors, just because it our last game.” said Lacroix, with St Joseph’s benefitting from far more of a “nothing to lose” approach given the game one results. “We just needed to stay calm and work together and communicate.”

“We were really nervous, but we really wanted to win.”

The final major for Olaterere was her second of the game, joined in that category by teammates Sienna Laurent and Elsa Blum, with Laurent and Caleigh Ryan each chipping in with a two-point conversion as well.

Lacroix was one of a handful of St Benedict girls on the sidelines who have been part of this process for four of the five years of the program’s existence, most entering with little to no background or knowledge of the sport that was about to captivate them.

“I kind of just saw that there were tryouts and decided to give it a try,” she said. “I started at quarterback, then receiver, then to defense, which I really love.”

To wit, Lacroix was also the starting safety with the Bears flag football entry, the dual involvement a benefit, to be sure, though perhaps not as much as the casual gridiron fan might think.

“They are definitely different sports,” she said. “But having played offense first, it really helps me read plays better from a defensive perspective. I wouldn’t say that the transition (from tackle to flag and back again) was all that hard. It just kind of flowed.”

That ability to “play read” would come in extra handy in a championship encounter where it was a given that the Jaguars were going to introduce a few new wrinkles offensively after having been limited to just eight points on their earlier visit to the nickel city.

“In that first game, they did a lot of pass plays, so that forced us to go into a zone defense,” said Lacroix. “This time, they ran the ball a lot. We expected it a bit, but that surprised us. Their quarterback has an arm.”

“I just said to our defense: it could be run, it could be pass. Just stick to your responsibilities.”

If that sounds a little like the voice of reason of the man guiding this good ship, he himself a Northern Football Conference all-time great in the defensive secondary, it only stands to reason.

“He (Mr Labrosse) is the best coach I have ever had, hands down,” said Lacroix, noting that thanks to her involvement with the Sudbury Spartans' girls tackle football crew in the summer, she garners all that comes with being surrounded with a great many quality football minds in this city.

In the end, all of that paid dividends.

“We were just praying that we would get another touchdown – and luckily, we did.”