"New Coach and High Hopes-For Ottawa Sooners Men's Semi-Pro Football Team"

The following article by Tim Baines appeared on Friday, May 24th, the day before the Sooners' first home game of the 2019 season. Unfortunately, they lost it 21-0.

What a difference a year makes. 

In 2018, Brandon Weekes was the Northern Football Conference’s fourth-leading receiver – with 18 catches for 322 yards. Now he’s the Ottawa Sooners head coach, expecting big things from his team during the 2019 season... 

From player to head coach of a football team in Ontario’s semi-pro football league, it has certainly been an adjustment for the 32-year-old. 

“Hanging up the cleats, it’s one of the hardest things I’ve done,” said Weekes, who took over as coach when Ken Evraire stepped away in the off-season. “The biggest thing is letting go of the sense of urgency to want to play.” 

The team, which had been called the Invaders, became part of the Sooners family and was renamed last year. The Sooners’ season ended in the NFC semi-finals with a 29-0 loss to the GTA All-Stars, the eventual league champs. Weekes is confident this season’s team, with an infusion of younger players – some from the Jr. Riders – can accomplish big things. 

“I’m building with a core base of 24-26-year-olds,” he said. “They’re in their prime football shape. We can wear people down. I think we’ll go further than we did last year, we’re a championship-calibre team. A championship is always the goal, but I want to get them to the level where it’s always high competition. You don’t want to go in and roll over just because it’s GTA. We have to go in and win week by week.” 

Among the key players on the defensive side of the ball will be safety Jordon Gorgichuk and middle linebacker Cameron Veck (who will miss Week 1 with an ankle injury and will be replaced by veteran Nick Lortie). 

Offensively, the team – which will lean on a pass-first philosophy – has quarterback Alex Gauthier and running back Dylan Hines, “the leader on our offence.” 

There’s also wideout Bobby Massie and slot receiver Mike Mortley who Weekes said of: “The dude’s a specimen. He’s a basketball player, now he’s a full-blown football player. He’s like 6-foot-6, 240 lbs. and he looks like a freak of nature.” 

There’s also a solid mix of vets including offensive lineman Amir Farhat, a longtime member of the squad. 

“We still have guys who are in their 40s,” said Weeks. “We need the older guys, especially in the locker room. We need that calm poise from our vets who understand that while we’re opening against a very strong team – they’re beatable.”

The Patriots were an 7-1 team in 2018 so it was a tough gig to start on. Still according to Tim Baines, the game might have been more competitive if not for a few mistakes.

The Sooners had two huge plays taken away on penalties. A punt return touchdown by Daniel McGrowder was called back for clipping and a missed field goal was returned 107 yards to the four-yard line by Austin Mackay, but the Sooners were penalized for tripping.

The Sooners next host the Tri-City Outlaws at Carleton on Saturday, June 1st.  The Outlaws wer3 4-4 last season and began their season with a 28-7 loss to the defending champion GTA All-Stars.

NOTE: The image above was posted on Keenan Photography's Facebook account. The full gallery can be found here.

2019 Draft Results

Oh, right, we're drafting Canadians too...

I'll do the same thing as last year, which I say knowing full well very few people saw it. I'll update this post constantly as picks come in and I find information about the player selected.

Ottawa does not have a second round pick as a result of trading it for LB Chris Ackie late last year. The quotes from GM Marcel Desjardins are from this Ottawa Sun article. 


Round 1 (7):  Alex Fontana, OL, Kansas, 6;02", 300

At the University of Houston, played in 11 games in 2016 (starting five). He missed 2017 due to injury then played in 12 games in 2018 with nine starts at Kansas.

From Marshall Ferguson's mock draft: Toronto native Alex Fontana had an outstanding pro day with the Kansas Jayhawks recently after deciding to skip the CFL Combine in order to maximize his pro day performance.

Fontana measures in at 6-foot-1, 298 pounds. He benched 225 pounds 29 times, broad jumped eight feet and 10 inches, vertical jumped 27.5 inches, ran a 5.20 in the 40, a 4.84 in the shuttle and a 7.78 in the three-cone.


Round 3 (27): Gabriel Polan, RB, Sherbrooke

Recorded 666 yards on 122 carries (three touchdowns) at Sherbrooke in 2018 on his way to being named a first-team conference all-star.

Desjardins: “Sherbrooke used him as a running back, we see him as the same as we do with our other Sherbrooke fullbacks (Jean-Christophe Beaulieu and Anthony Gosselin). He’s an athletic H-back, fullback type who can get into space and catch the ball if need be and have the physicality to block in the box. With all those guys, it’s special teams value. He’s got size, he runs pretty well and he’s got kind of a knack on special teams for being in the right place.”


Round 4 (36): Thomas Grant, DL, Acadia, 6' 05", 285

2018 AUS lineman of the year.

Desjardins: “He’s a massive man, almost 6-foot-6 and 290 lbs. He’s an interior D lineman who’s very athletic for his size. He’s very strong and stout. He’s still a bit raw, he still needs to learn the position, he needs to learn to keep his pad level down. He’s a guy who can potentially go back to school after camp. Potentially, he could become an O lineman as well if the D line thing doesn’t work out.”


Round 5 (45): Wesley Lewis, WR, Houston Baptist, 6'06", 210

Desjardins: “He’s another big boy at 6-foot-5, 218 lbs. He runs real well. He knows to use his body to his advantage. He doesn’t need to dominate and be physical with DBs because he can just kind of impose himself on them by just getting in the way. He catches the ball pretty well. There’s a lot to like about him. It’s funny, he was actually at one of our tryout camps in Houston last year – as an American. We didn’t know he qualified as a Canadian. Our guys liked him so he was on our ready list should we have needed a guy like that to come in. In the interim, he gained national status. A guy that size, you can’t pass up that size, speed and athleticism.”


Round 6 (54): Chris Larsen, DL, Manitoba, 6'04", 255


Round 7 (63): Samson Abbott,  DL, Manitoba, 6;04", 240

Played with the Alberta Golden Bears from 2014-16. Led Alberta in sacks as a rookie in 2015. Played junior football with the Winnipeg Rifles in 2017 due to transfer rules and led the team in sacks with five.

Desjardins (including Larsen above): “They’re very similar. Larsen’s a bit bigger. They’re both athletic. Larsen plays a bit more on defence. Abbott doesn’t play a ton on defence, but he is a very, very good special teams player at that level. He’s probably the most ready guy from a special teams perspective to come in and play. He’s about 6-foot-4, 240 – Nigel Romick, that’s the type of guy he is. As we all know, those guys are crucial to have on your team for special teams ability. The biggest thing with those two guys is they have two years of eligibility left. That’s the same with Thomas Grant and Polan.”


Round 8 (72): Clement Lebreux, DL, Laval, 6'04", 296

Desjardins: “He’s a big boy – 6-foot-3 1/2, 300 lbs. He’s strong and stout. This is a future pick, similar to Kevin Malcolm a couple of years ago. Kevin had torn his ACL, Clement tore his ACL at the regional combine in Montreal. He’s a guy we’ll wait on. He’ll rehab and get better. I don’t think he’ll be ready this season, he hasn’t had his surgery yet. But next year, he’ll be a full go coming into camp.”