BY SCOTT
HADDOW
It's bear season and the hunt is on.
The St. Benedict Bears senior boys football team won their
first-ever city championship this past Friday, thumping their
South End rivals, the Lo-Ellen Park Knights, 36-13.
In front of a rowdy and packed crowd at Queen's Athletic Field,
the Bears dominated the championship game, scoring early and
often en route to the victory.
At half time, the Bears owned a comfortable 29-7 lead and never
once looked back.
Now, the Bears head off to Sault Ste. Marie this upcoming
Saturday to take on more Knights, the St. Mary's Knights in the
NOSSA championship. Game time is 1 pm.
Ironically, the St. Mary's Knights beat the St. Joseph-Scollard
Hall Bears 50-0 last week to advance to NOSSA, so it will be
Bears versus Knights again for all the marbles.
The winner will move on to play in the Northern Bowl game
against the Thunder Bay champion in Toronto on Dec. 9.
For the Bears, winning the Sudbury crown was sweet and gave the
team something to savour.
"We said it all year that we were looking for respect and I
believe we earned it with this win," said head coach Frank
Rocca. "To get respect for having a good football program in
this city you have to win the big game and we did. Our guys
were crisp and ready to go. It showed because we came out on
fire. My hat is off to Lo-Ellen...they gave us everything and
they never gave up. There was a lot of hard-hitting on the
field. It was a great game for the fans and tremendous for our
school."
Rocca was proud of his troops, especially since the majority of
the roster have been with him for the last four years and have
been on the receiving end of many lopsided losses.
"These guys are my veterans and leaders and I've seen them grow
into men right before my eyes," said the bench boss. "They had
a lot of pride. We are a very small school...we only have 617
kids. We're only a few away from being a single A school and
we're competing against schools with 1,200 to 1,500 kids. For
these guys to go out and do what they did this year (a perfect
8-0 season) says a lot about their dedication, work ethic and
who they really are. It was a beautiful moment and something
we've been working at for the last four years. I am so proud of
these guys. This is our first city football championship and it
will be remembered."
Lo-Ellen didn't make any excuses for their less than stellar
game and gave full credit to the Bears.
"We started flat and fell too far behind to catch up," said
Knights head coach Kevin Ellsworth. "The Bears are a solid team
and aggressive. We have a lot of returning players next year
and we'll be right back in this again next season. The kids
learned a positive lesson from this game."
The Bears themselves relished the moment.
"This is the first time this school has won a football
championship and I am thrilled to be a part of it," said player
Mike Bartolucci. "I'm glad it went down the way it did because
we earned it. We came out swinging and played hard all game. We
made a statement in the first quarter and never looked back.
Now we get to go to NOSSA and wreak some hell there. We just
have to go out and set the tone and play Bears football for any
kind of success."
Bears player Brent Edwardson took Player of the Game honours
and was overwhelmed after the victory.
"We never won anything in football before," said Brent
Edwardson. "We won more games this year than we did in the
history of the program at the school. This win meant everything
to the school. We had a veteran team that came together at the
right time. For NOSSA, we have to keep doing what we have been
doing and not make any mistakes. Winning Player of the Game
hasn't sunk in and a really nice feeling."
Overall, St. Benedict was bent on winning at all costs.
"We had guys who weren't going to let this opportunity pass
by," said Rocca. "We had a core of about 15 seniors who were
determined to win it and that was the difference maker for us.
They realized guys can play until they're 40 and never win a
championship and they wanted a championship."
The Bears now must avoid the dreaded NOSSA curse, which has
kept Sudbury teams from winning a NOSSA title since 1969. St.
Charles was the last team to win a NOSSA Championship, 37 years
ago.
"We have some plans...it's not over yet," said Rocca. "We will
be going into the game on a high and with plenty of
motivation."
