It took just over three minutes of playing time for the St Benedict Bears to suck much of the emotion from a dramatic come-from-behind semi-final win from the St Charles College Cardinals Friday afternoon as the teams met to decide the SDSSAA Senior Boys Football Championship at the James Jerome Sports Complex.

For as much as it was the Cards who rallied from a 29-7 first quarter deficit last week to upset the defending champion Confederation Chargers, this one belonged to the Bears, almost from the get-go.

Marching the field on the opening drive of the game, St Benedict capped things off with a 2 yard touchdown run courtesy of quarterback Evan DeMarchi just 2:07 into the final game. After recovering the ensuing kickoff deep in Cardinals territory, the Bears increased their lead to 13-0 when running back Dylan Nelson scampered in from the six.

St Benedict placekicker Zach Arsenault went one for two on his PAT attempts but the miss would certainly not prove all that costly as the Bears earned their first city title since 2019 thanks to a 37-7 triumph over St Charles.

"We won the coin toss and decided to take the ball to let our offense set the tone," said QB DeMarchi, a 17 year-old grade 12 senior who is not expected to return for a victory lap. "The last two games, we started with the ball and scored so we thought we could do it again."

Though SCC would cut into the lead midway through quarter two - Harrison Markiewich hauled in a 29 yard TD pass from Nolan Larche - the Bears effectively closed out the contest thanks to a 27 yared field goal from Arsenault, a late 19 yard TD pass from DeMarchi to Moshood Adeleye and fourth quarter scores from Dylan Nelson (8 yard run) and Keegan Adair (47 yard pass from DeMarchi).

"It all starts up fron with the "Hog Squad", the big guys," said DeMarchi, discussing the very healthy balance the Bears offense enjoyed throughout the game. "Establish the run early was our plan and once they step up, we aired it out and made them pay for stepping up."

Though this was a complete team win in every sense of the word, the work of the young pivot who was spot on from start to finish certainly went a long way in ensuring that a SDSSAA season that had witnessed a pair of ties and a whole slew of nailbiters closed with something of a lopsided affair.

"I think that was one of the best football games I have ever put together - especially in terms of reading defenses," said DeMarchi. "I knew what they were going to do before they did it."

"I watched hours and hours of film this week; their game versus Confed, their game versus Lo-Ellen. It was all preparation. You win the game on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday - not on Thursday and Friday."