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Challenging 2016 schedule put Spartans in a tough spot

Drawing top end talent still a challenge for football team
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The Sudbury Spartans finished their 2016 season with a record of 3-5. Randy Pascal explains that a tough schedule and some hard fought losses are to blame and the team wasn't far off from a winning season. File photo.

One could certainly simplify things and suggest that the Sudbury Spartans took a step backwards in 2016. This, however, would be at least somewhat inaccurate, and unfair to players and coaches alike.

The Spartans finished this past regular season with a record of 3-5, finishing sixth in the eight team Northern Football Conference. 

A first round playoff trek to the nation's capital produced the expected result, with Sudbury dropping a 36-0 decision to the Ottawa Invaders.

It is true that the Spartans could boast a 4-4 campaign in 2014, followed by a 5-3 mark the very next summer. The reality, however, is that this has as much to do with just how often the locals face any of the NFC heavyweights on any given year.

In the world of NFC football, the likes of the Ottawa Invaders, GTA All-Stars, Montreal Transit, and this past year, the Sarnia Imperials, have proven to be in a class of their own.

Excluding their matchups with Ottawa and Sarnia this year, the Spartans were not only sitting on a 3-3 record, but suffered their setbacks by margins of five points (vs. Oakville), seven points (vs. Steel City) and four points (vs. Tri-City).

Given that all three of those games were decided in the dying minutes, it would not have been the least bit surprising if coach Junior Labrosse and company ran the table in those outings, earning themselves a 6-2 record in lieu of 3-5.

"Compared to year two, the breaks late in the games just didn't come our way, and teams capitalized on our mistakes," said Labrosse in a post-season review. "If some of those games went our way, we probably could have hosted a playoff game."

In that sense, the team is caught between a rock and a hard place, searching for progress while recognizing the level of opposition they are facing. 

"We're getting tired of just making it to the playoffs," said Labrosse. "You want to win one. We don't have that same athletic talent pool that they have down south. You saw that when we played Montreal - their athleticism just took over after a while. But you can tell the players are starting to believe that we could play with the southern teams."

It doesn't help that the Spartans still attract only a very small percentage of graduating Sudbury Gladiators talent, athletes who have grown accustomed to putting themselves to the test against southern Ontario teams that will boast many future CIS competitors.

While many footballers who reach their early twenties hang up their cleats for good, their time commitments giving way to post-secondary studies, summer work commitments, long-term relationships and families of their own, the Sudbury marketplace does not have that built in cushion, in terms of sheer numbers, to lose 90 per cent or more of their potential prospects.

Still, Labrosse understands that the entire process requires a degree of patience. At the end of the day, you can't force people to play.

"I don't bug guys, right off the bat, to see if they are playing next year," he said. "I start finding out in January, after the Super Bowl. A lot of it has to do with summer work commitments." 

That being said, the long-time NFC defensive back has a clear-cut idea on what it would take for his team to take the next step forward.

"Guys know that we are about ten talented players shy, in key positions, from making that jump to being a 6-2, a 7-1 team," said Labrosse. "These teams are damn competitive, stacked in talent."

And while the Spartans may not be there yet, neither are they regressing. At least not in any fair assessment of their play.


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