Pragmatically speaking, breaking the six-team SDSSAA senior boys football loop into two brackets of three, for purposes of our pre-season predictions, only makes sense. On the field of play, however, it’s looking a lot more like an inevitable showdown of the top two (Confederation and St Benedict).
The remaining quartet is absolutely fascinating as a step backwards for Lo-Ellen Park (from the standard that has seen them appear in five straight city finals, capturing the banner four times) opens the door for both St Charles College and Lively DSS, with Lockerby Composite making a return to the fold with what should be a decent entry.
The withdrawal from the senior ranks of the Lasalle Lancers, while unfortunate, did ease the load for both this reporter (figuring out tie-breakers in an unbalanced schedule was pure chaos) as well as league convenor and Lockerby head coach Tate James, who was able to move from a four-game schedule with a bye every week to a full round robin five game season.
Lively Hawks (2-3): The battle for 3rd/4th/5th place is shaping up to be a beauty, with Lively more than capable of over-taking Lo-Ellen if things fall into place. Quarterback Kade Campbell and slotback Dean Vildis are both first year seniors, though both have proven track records in summer ball with the Jr Spartans.
One of the top passers in the league, Campbell will need to strike a healthy balance given that veteran Bennett Timmers and newcomer Lawson Rautiainen in the backfield will be following the lead of some good-sized lads on the line, while receiver Alex Campbell and others who might see double-duty out wide also have the ability to move the chains in chunks.
Junior lineman of the year Ryder D’Amours will partner with the likes of Leland Howard-Smith, Avery Wabano and Top Glove boxer Jackson Savoie in bringing the beef up front, with the Hawks falling in line with several of the teams in the league this year, likely working a seven to ten player rotation through the offensive and defensive lines.
Carter Lachance and Ryder D’Amours will help keep things tight at the point of attack from a defensive standpoint as Lively again brings in a troika of new playmakers at linebacker at the senior level. Rylan Maksymchuk, Josh Mallick-Taylor and Lawson Rautiainen will need to be a force if Lively is to finish third, though they are buttressed nicely by a deep secondary unit that features all-star Connor Westaway alongside Bodhi Villeneuve, Dylan Jackson and Brock Gouge.
St Charles Cardinals (1-4): Truth be told, I wavered for a good, long time on the October 16th final game of the regular season between SCC and LIV, a matchup that could easily see my predictions turned on their head. A couple of very tough years at St Charles gave way to a win over Lasalle last fall, but also a one-point loss to Lively as the Cards look to ride a really solid group of offensive playmakers to an even better finish in 2026.
Nolan Larche (QB – former Jr Offensive MVP) and Noah Arsenault (RB – all-star) are back and more than a little excited to be adding running back Fahad Abdulrahman and receivers Emmanuel Appiah-Hagen, Michael Bisschops, Kingston Pitawanakwat and Koda Peltier to an attack that offers potentially as great a variety of weapons on that side of the ball as any team in the city.
An area of strength the past few years, the depth of linemen at SCC this fall is not what we have grown accustomed to, with returning guard Daniel Olili and Elliot Frappier being leaned upon to partner with two-way stalwart Liam Speck (who might also see time at linebacker) to bring some less experienced talent at their side up to speed quite quickly.
Defensively, having Rylan Tremblay back is big on the DL, with Brady Holden stepping in at tackle while Junior MVP Dexter Mailloux transitions to linebacker, with some question as to who else, beyond Hector Sauve, will constitute that second wave of defense for the Cards.
Veteran Connor Paris will handle the oversight of pass coverage from his role as safety, with defensive back Josh Terris garnering some pre-season hype from the St Charles coaching staff, who are also hopeful that Tomiwa Gagophien is back from injury (knee) soon. If anything, the kicking game reflects much of the overall outlook with this team this year: Sele Arewa, who handled the duties pretty well as a junior in 2025, must now make the jump to a higher level.
That is the story with the 2025 Cardinals: a lot of grade 11 talent, having to adjust quickly.
Lockerby Vikings (0-5): Making their first appearance in the senior football loop since 2017, the return of the Lockerby Vikings would typically have all remaining teams licking their chops in anticipation of the opportunity to substantially pad their stats. And while this might still be the case versus the Chargers and Bears, it is entirely possible that the presence of a dozen or more players who have at least some level of JMYFL or summer football experience might allow the Vikings to keep some of the games versus the bottom four close.
For as much as there might not be a name of substantive note that came up during my chat with Tate James, it will come as an absolute shock if some of the names that follow are not much more well-known to those who follow the local HS football scene closely by the end of the fall schedule.
Quarterback Will Stitt is in his third year with the Vikings, garnering a level of comfort with the Lockerby juniors the past two years. In fact, no less than eight of the young men that will be named in the next few paragraphs suited up at the side of the young signal caller.
The backfield is built around T.K. Dittburner and Sudbury Secondary transfer Faiz Jalo, while receiving options for Stitt include Cohen Lipper-Murdoch, Charlie Chisholm and Felix Mageau.
Even the lines do not look nearly as thin as one might expect with a new entry, with Elliot Dickison, Jacoby Smith and Brock Brisson bringing it on the offensive side and Osaze Aibangbee and Keegan Kranz joining Smith on the D-Line, looking to create some momentum leading into 2027 and beyond.
U16 Spartans teammates Brock Gauthier and Dominic Smith will anchor the linebacking corps while Elliot Lees, Will Burlington, Keenan Nicholson and Skyler Benson look to disrupt receivers a plenty in the secondary.
