Tech's Big Streak

I've made a few updates to the high school page over the past couple of weekends. Starting from the bottom (so 1927) and working my way up, I've added more information about the city champions each year and some photography when I've been able to land a semi-clear image from a newspaper.

So if you see a heading in a different font size, that was done deliberately. That is a place holder for myself. At the moment, I'm done up to 1951, inclusive.

I've also added some information beyond the city title. From 1927 to 1942, Ottawa teams would meet other schools from the region for the Eastern Ontario (EOSSA) championship, be it Perth, Pembroke, Kingston, etc. I've added the results of those contests, most of which were won by teams from Ottawa.

In doing this, I came away impressed with Ottawa Tech's record of the late 40s and early 50s (well, 1950 specifically).

Ottawa Tech's 1947 Senior Championship Team

Glebe won four titles from 1937 to 1941 until Tech stopped that streak by taking the 1942 crown. Glebe and St. Patrick's then swapped out the next four.

But then Tech put together a four-year streak of it own, starting with the 1947 team above which, going into playoffs, had allowed only one point in six games.

In the playoffs, they beat Lisgar 28-05 then got a scare from Glebe but defeated them 03-02 for that year's title.

The 1948 edition lost a game to Glebe to notch a 4-1 regular season record but had a points differential of 100 to 10 nonetheless.

In the playoffs they soundly beat Nepean 23-00 to earn the right to face Glebe again in a two-game series. They won the first game 18-00, and lost the second 06-05, but obviously won the overall series.

The 1949 team was ridiculously dominant and can make a strong argument for being the all-time best in the city.

Those are similar numbers to what the 1947 squad put together but the 1949 team would continue that dominance in the playoffs. They handled a normally strong Glebe team 19-01 to set up a two-game series again, this time against St. Patrick's. Tech took the first game 23-00 and the second 16-00. So all told, they surrendered two points over the course of eight games while scoring 179.

Ottawa Tech's 1949 Senior Championship Team

On to 1950. They were undefeated but gave up a whole five points (while scoring 99)! They defeated a pesky Nepean team 15-12 in the semi-final, then Glebe 12-2 for their fourth straight championship.

Ottawa Tech's 1950 Senior Championship Team

Glebe put an end to Tech's dominance the following year when they knocked them off in the championship game. Tech would not win another championship until 1957 and that would be their last of seven overall.

They may not be the most decorated high school program (they currently are 5th in that department), but for those four years they were undeniably the class of the circuit.

Orleans Raftsmen Rake It In at QMFL Awards Banquet

The Quebec Midget Football League held it awards banquet this past weekend and unsurprisingly, in light of their league championship win, the Orleans Raftsmen cleaned up. The following members of the team were honoured.


Offensive MVP: Nicolas Rico
Defensive MVP: Nickolas Decoste

Long Snapper: Connor Glenn
Offensive Live MVP: Alex Vinette

The following players were named to the league's all-star team.

Offensive Line: Jacob Traynor & Zachary Seguin

Running Back: Dante Spadaccini

Receiver: Johnny Aoud

Punter: Patrick Massicotte

Defensive Line: Juanito Joseph & Jason Marion

Linebacker: Austin Leshien

Defensive Backs: Justice Koradi & Eric Cumberbatch

Alexandre Vinette profile pic from hudl.com

These results are taken from the Raftsmen Instagram account.

I'm not fully certain about the award given to Connor Glenn, but it was the best translation of "spécialiste de longue remise" that I could come up with.

Evidently someone named to the MVP spot can not occupy a spot on the all-star team at the same time. This appears to apply to Vinette and Glenn above, as well as Nickolas Decoste and Nicolas Rico. If Rico was not the all-star QB otherwise, I'd love to see who got the nod. His highlights are spectacular.

Finally, the coaching staff as a whole was honoured as well. Based on the team's success over the past couple of seasons, that hardly comes as a shock.

We Should Know More About...Tom "King" Clancy

We should know more about Tom Clancy not just because he was a successful, influential figure in the late 1800s and early 1900s but also because an important aspect of his career is often reported incorrectly.

Many lists of Ottawa Rough Rider coaches name him as the team's coach starting from 1904. That does not actually appear to be the case and if not, then the win-loss record credited to him would also be wrong.

Let's work our way down his career and piece it all together. His obituary (he passed away in September of 1938) states that he joined Ottawa College in 1892, apparently because he was drawn to their baseball team. He was considered an outstanding center and his U. of O. teams won national championships in 1894, 1896 and 1897. He planned to stop participating in 1898 but returned as a player-coach.

Ottawa Journal, October 18th, 1898: "The College (vs) Granite game next week should be a corker. Tom Clancy will practice and coach the college team every day this week."

His continued presence would have an inspirational impact on the team.

Ottawa Journal, October 24th, 1898:

He finally would pull the plug on his College playing days in late 1899.

Ottawa Journal, December 16th, 1899:

He was named President of the Rugby Football Union that year in 1901 but was back on the field by 1903. That year, Ottawa U. lost the championship game to the Rough Riders by a score of 13-12. Clancy played in that game for the garnet and grey, scoring a touchdown that was unconverted.

Clancy continued in his coaching role with Ottawa U. in 1904. He was only involved in Ottawa Rough Riders matches as a referee.

Then in 1907...

Ottawa Journal, October 2nd, 1907:

Ottawa Citizen, October 2nd, 1907:

He would hold the post through most of the 1911 season. He had planned to retire from the position in 1910 because he had been named president of the Big Four and did not want a conflict of interest but he was persuaded to return.

Beyond 1911, he contributed to the sport as an executive and as a referee. He was involved with the Rough Riders in 1919 but more as an assistant coach. He would, among other things, coach the intermediate team that the main club practiced against.

So official info appears to incorrectly indicate that he coached from 1904 to 1907 but they do it at the other end as well. It is said that Clancy coached the Rough Riders in 1921 and 1922 but that is difficult to support.

In 1921, the October 8th Citizen said that Clancy and Dave McCann were "directing their destinies in first-class shape" in reference to the Rough Riders. But in 1922, his coaching appears to have been as a substitute for Dave McCann. A practice report mentions Clancy's assistance but specifically named Walter Gilhooley as being in charge.

Ottawa Citizen, October 7th, 1922.

That isn't to take anything away from Clancy. He contributed to the game, and to Ottawa's place in it, in pretty well every conceivable manner for decades. For that matter, he was heavily involved in hockey, baseball and lacrosse as well locally.

So if Clancy didn't coach the Rough Riders from 1904 to 1906...who did?

Ottawa Journal, October 5th, 1904: "Bob Shillington coached the men and is confident with a few more practises (sic) the champions will be in good shape, and will not lose another game this season."

Ottawa Citizen, September 26th, 1905: "The Rough Riders had another turn out on the exhibition grounds yesterday afternoon when fully thirty-five men lined up under the coaching of Weldy Young."

Also in 1905:

Ottawa Citizen, September 29th, 1905:

Ottawa Citizen, September 20th, 1906: "The club will hold its first practice on Saturday afternoon at 3 o'clock and George Brown will handle the men this season."

Another article from early October 1906 names Dick Shillington as "assisting" with the coaching. I can't tell whether that is actually an erroneous reference to Bob Shillington above or another person altogether. What I do know is that don't see Clancy's name among the coaches.

So as a coach, Clancy might be given a little too much credit but overall his involvement in the sport is very much overlooked and perhaps overshadowed by the hockey accomplishments of his son, Frank.

He may be responsible for one very significant part of Ottawa football history. The following is from Frank Cosentino's book "Canadian Football: The Grey Cup Years".

Tom "King" Clancy was the coach of the Ottawa team, and he, a former American who went to Ottawa College is credited with giving the Ottawas the name 'Rough Riders' because of his admiration for Teddy Roosevelt's famous military outfit of the same name.

I have my doubt about this. The Rough Riders name is traced back to 1898. Clancy was playing against the Rough Riders for Ottawa College that year. It seems odd that he would bestow such a label to his opponents no matter how much he might respect them.

I think this paragraph in a recap of a game against Ottawa College is the cause of the confusion.

Someone named King Kennedy rallied the troops and perhaps his nickname is causing him to be mistaken for King Clancy.

But that is only speculation on my part. I own one of Cosentino's book and there is no question that the man does his research. He would not make that claim lightly so it must be possible that Clancy is responsible for the Rough Riders name.

The Long-Delayed 1933 EOSSA Championship Game

I've spent some time over the past couple of days fleshing out the early days of high school seasons in and around Ottawa. The results can be found near the bottom of the "high school" page above.

There have been two tricky aspects to this.

1) The lack of an actual playoff game. The champion was determined by achieving first place, not necessarily by winning their final game. In some instances, the champs might have defeated a team to go 6-0 while the next best team only had three wins. Finding that "clincher" game can be tough.

2) Moving beyond the city championship. For a while, the Ottawa winner would take on other teams from the region for the Eastern Ontario Secondary School Association crown. Results of a game played in Perth on a Tuesday or Wednesday can be hard to locate, for example.

There was one that was particularly challenging. The 1933 EOSSA championship game was played much later than one has any right to expect.

In 1933, Glebe sailed through the local competition.

You have to appreciate that points differential. Tech, on the other hand...

This is a good example of the first challenge. Glebe had this thing sealed up before the end of the regular season. They did so by removing any mathematical chance of anyone (meaning Lisgar) catching them in the standings when they trounced Nepean 35-05.

I'm not sure that "outgeneralled" would survive a spell check.

In any event, good stuff by the Glebonoids. Off to the EOSSA Championship playoffs! The first obstacle was in Pembroke.

Ha! Take THAT, Lumber Towners!

We're on to Carleton Place. And here is where challenge #2 takes place. Scheduling could be tricky so games would be moved to the middle of the week at a moment's notice to accommodate someone, etc. The junior title game was cancelled outright, for example.

The Glebe/Carleton Place game was initially scheduled for Saturday, November 18th. It was delayed by heavy snowfall. Then delayed again by more snow. It was delayed further until, on December 7th, a decision was finally made to play the game...right around Easter of the following year.

Wow.

At the very least, Glebe can not claim that the wait affected them in any negative way. They dominated the game in defeating Carleton Place 30-00, using a wide array of weapons, like the...huh...forward pass.

"Crashed the leather". I love that.

So a mere five months after the regular season came to an end, Glebe added the EOSSA championship to its trophy case. The delay would not deter them at all; they nailed down the city championship in 1934 as well.

2019 Jr. Rider All Stars

As announced over the weekend and added to the league's website yesterday.

The tackle numbers for defenders are solo/assisted.

1st Team

OL Eric Bento

RB Erick Baptiste
42 carries for 183 yards and two TDs
14 receptions for 274 yards and three TDs

WR Edward Ekior
21 receptions for 471, five TDs

DL Akash Bakshi
14/13 tackles, three sacks,

LB Nikolas Delisle
39/10 tackles, one interception

DB Jordon Gorgichuck
10/13 tackles, one interception

DB Justin Butler
17/9 tackles, one sack

2nd Team

QB Alexandre Lafleur
28 carries for 193 yards and four TDs
68 of 154 passing, 1185 yards, five TDs

OL Paul Lukusa

RB Augustin Mande
58 carries for 266 yards for two TDs
Two receptions for 26 yards

WR Evan Yourth
Nine receptions for 117 yards, two TDs

DL Ibrahim Hajjeh
8/4 tackles, two sacks

LB Donovan McLean
11/11 tackles, two interceptions

DB Osa Ekiyor
18/4 tackles, one interception

The picture above was taken from Paul Lukusa's Instagram account. It seemed appropriate. :-)

1990: "Sleeper Ploy Run Perfectly"

It's a little tough to come up with great moments in a team's free agency history but the Ottawa Rough Riders had themselves a memorable couple of days in March of 1990.

At the time, free agency was so in name only. There was a general understand among team front office folks that you wouldn't go after another team's players.

The Rough Riders had won three, three, two and four games over the four previous seasons. The league had set up an equalization system through which playoff teams would make players available to the non-playoff teams but RR management found the plan hopelessly inadequate and requests to better it largely fell on deaf ears.

So to free agency they went.

Two things made this whole event fun as hell; the secrecy and the outrage. Bearing in mind that not only was signing another team's free agents frowned upon, it was doubly shocking that sad sack Ottawa would make such a move.

The anger and hand-wringing it generated across a league of hypocrites was hilarious. If the articles of the time are accurate, Ottawa had been more than $140,000 under the then-3M salary cap. Edmonton, meanwhile, was over it by $150,000 and paid a $15,000 fine as a result. Big damn deal. 

Toronto GM Mike McCarthy, in particular, lost his mind.

 

A year later, McCarthy was the GM when Toronto signed Raghib Ismail to a four-year, 18M contract. But I'm sure that's totally different and/or the result of Ottawa giving a defensive tackle a $20,000 raise. That sure escalated quickly!

So how'd all these new guys do with Ottawa? well, it varies.

Anthony Cherry only played four games before getting cut. David Williams had a very solid year with 61 receptions for 895 yards and 12 TDs, but was later traded to Edmonton for the 1991 season.

Among the offensive linemen, Bryan Illerbrun played for two season while Rob Smith was around for three, earning a league all-star selection in 1992.

Stephen Jones stuck around from 1990 to 1994. He was a two-time league all star, in 1990 and 1992, a season in which he gathered 75 receptions for 1400 yards and 10 touchdowns. Glenn Kulka had seven sacks in his first year with Ottawa but would average only 2.5 a year for the next four seasons.

John Mandarich only played one season. He was cut in July of the following year.

So a mixed bag but the team did improve to seven wins, their best since 1985. Not a powerhouse by any stretch but the move injected some excitement into a fan base that was starving for it.

Elaborating on the Old Boys Cup

I wrote a post last October about the Old Boys Cup series between Ashbury and Bishop's that ran for a couple of decades. I've decided to create a page dedicated to it after all and it is now available above under the banner image but still under heavy construction.

Pictured below is the 1954 edition of the team which went 8-0 and, of course, won that trophy. 

Just added: 1953 IJFL Championship Game Recap

The Interprovincial Junior Football League has its own page above and the following article from the November 2nd Ottawa Journal was added to it a few minutes ago.

The Citizen's recap is a bit more detailed, adding that the Don Spencer touchdown was a seven-yard plunge, Barry Craig's went for five yards around the end and Jim Hunter's pass to Brian Armstrong was a 25-yard connection. Armstrong's second score was "on a similar play".   

The First African American/Canadian Rough Rider

A mention of Black History Month by the CFL reminded me of something I'd meant to clear up for myself some time ago.

I once believed, on the strength of seeing a lone Black dude in a 1951 Grey Cup celebration photo, that he had to have been the first African American to play for the team.

I'd seen team pictures from prior to that year and there were no Black players on them. I later identified #81 above as Steve Hatfield and left it at that.

Someone wrote to me years ago to point out that he thought there had been a Black player prior to Hatfield. I wish I could remember who that gentleman was. If you're that guy and you happen to read this some day, thank you for drawing my attention to the possibility. I wish I'd have taken more time to look into it when you first contacted me.

We'll start with Hatfield regardless. In August of 1950, Ottawa hosted the NFL's New York Giants in an exhibition game at Lansdowne Park. In that game, Steve Hatfield scored two touchdowns for the Giants as the American club won 27-06.

Evidently that left on impression on Ottawa coaches as Hatfield joined the club the next year.

I don't believe that Hatfield played beyond the 1951 Grey Cup season and reliable statistics even for that season appear to be difficult to come by. From what I can gather, Hatfield returned to the States to finish his studies in 1952 and intended to play for the Chicago Cardinal in 1953 but injury scuttled those plans.

But before Steve Hatfield became a Rough Riders, there was Ray Skerrett.

Skerrett was from Montreal where he excelled in track and field. He had tried out for the Alouettes and they could not deny his speed but they feared that he was not stout enough to take the pounding of a regular football schedule.

Skerrett joined the Ottawa Rough Riders and immediately impressed the home crowd with his speed and quickness during a 1949 exhibition game against Hamilton. Rough Riders won 25-01, a score which included a touchdown by Skerrett.

The image below is the only one of him I've been able to find, at least in action for Ottawa. Unfortunately, it looks like it was taken by candle light in a coal mine at 3AM. I know it was 1949, but still...

Skerrett did not play much beyond that one game. There were some rumours that other players didn't want him on the field (can you guess why?) but those were denied by team brass, naturally. Officially, Skerrett was nursing an ankle injury and in fairness, many mid-week practice reports stated that he walked with a limp.

He did see action again in a home victory against Hamilton on September 18th though apparently was not particularly effective against them on that occasion. He participated again in a game on October 9th, scoring one of the team's several touchdowns in a 42-33 victory against Montreal.

Skerrett is conspicuously absent from the team picture taken during the playoffs, though by then his season had been shut down due to injury. This was announced in the Ottawa Journal in early November. He was, however, present for the team's first (ever?) quarterback club in late August.

Skerrett would ultimately join his hometown team early in the 1950 season and played for the Windsor Royals in 1951 but in 1949, it appears he made history as Ottawa's first Black player.

Marking Our Territory

The current version of the territorial selection in the draft only came into play last year but being that Ottawa has such a pick this year, this is a good time to go back and look at the original version of that draft feature.

As of April 2019...:

The two teams with the highest waiver priority will each get to make one Territorial Draft Pick – to be used to select a player born within their territorial limits at the end of the second round.

Since Ottawa found all kinds of innovative ways to suck last year, they get an additional pick at the bottom of the second round.

Last year's press release included some historical info.

From 1972 to 1982, each club had the right to pre-select two players from its region who would be exempted from the draft. That limit was reduced to one Draft exemption selection in 1983 and 1984, and then the practice was terminated altogether prior to the 1985 Canadian Draft.

How big a deal was this? Well, the Ottawa Rough Riders did quite nicely with it, thank you. Here's a look at some past territorial picks.

1973 - Donn Smith - OL - Played from 1973 to 1980 and was a three-time East all-star. 

1975 - Peter Stenerson - QB - Played multiple positions for Ottawa between 1975 and 1982, including receiver at which he caught 99 passes for 1460 yards and 11 tds. As a defensive back, he recorded five interceptions in 1976. 

 

1975 - Jeff Turcotte - OL - Played in 65 games between 1975 and 1980.  

1976 - Jeff Avery - Receiver - Played from 1976 to 1982, gathering in 169 passes for 2619 yards and 15 scores.  

1977 - Mike Murphy - RB - Ran for 1983 yards and contributed 163 receptions for another 1634 between 1977 and 1980. Murphy scored 10 touchdowns during that time.  

1978 - Bruce Walker - Receiver - Had 120 receptions for 1511 yards and five touchdowns over five seasons but also contributed as a punt returner over that time. 

1979 - Pat Stoqua - Receiver - From 1980 to 1984, caught 92 passes for 1546 yards and scored six times.    

1982 - Mark Seale - DL/OL - Played in Ottawa for three seasons before moving on to Toronto. Had 8.5 sacks in 1983.  

1983 - Roger Cattelan - OL - Played offensive line from 1983 to 1987. 

1983 - Mike Hudson - Receiver - Credited with 102 receptions, 1247 yards and two touchdowns between 1983 and 1988.   

1984 - Michel Bourgeau - DL - Prior to going to Edmonton in 1989, Bourgeau played on the defensive line for five seasons for Ottawa from 1984 to 1988, and recorded 15 sacks in that time.  

That is not a full list by any means and the list above doesn't include all of each individual's accomplishments. But it highlights the main contributors from the territorial pick and hopefully provides some insight as to its potential value.

Feeling the 2020 Draft

Now that the outcome of the Nick Arbuckle acquisition has been determined, let's take a deeper look at the impact that it will have going forward.

As a reminder, the team gave up a third-round draft choice for his rights, then swapped places with Calgary in the first round of the coming college draft (from first to sixth) when they were able to sign him prior to free agency starting on February 11th.

Here are a couple of quotes from general manager Marcel Desjardins, as found in the Ottawa Sun and provided by Tim Baines, at the time that the trade with Calgary was first announced.

“We were willing to give up a third-round pick to see how it plays out… Look, we’ve got guys from last year’s draft, guys who didn’t play, coming back. We’ve got Samson Abbott, Chris Larsen, Gabriel Polan, Clement Lebreux. Those guys might make our team. Plus we get a territorial draft pick (at the end of the first round).” 

“When we’ve drafted toward the back end of the first round, we’ve always ended up with a pretty good football player. We certainly feel like we’ll get a good player at six. It’s something I proposed, that we flip those picks.”

The territorial pick is actually at the end of the second round. Tim Baines' addition to Desjardins' first comment above, in parentheses, is incorrect.

So we lose a third and drop in the first. To evaluate the impact of those moves, let's review how we are doing for Canadian talent.

By my unofficial count, and including draft choices from previous drafts that are expected to show up, but not guys that are becoming free agents in 10 days, we have...

FB - 3 (Beaulieu, Gosselin, Polan...all from Sherbrooke!) 

WR - 4 (Dubois, Lewis, Sinopoli, Tyrell)  

OL - 10 (Fontana, Gagnon, Johnson, Korte, Lauzon-Seguin, MacMillan, Mateas, Omara, Pickett, Secord) 

DL - 7 (Abbott, Grant, Larsen, Laurent,  Lebreux, Onyeka, Romick)  

LB - 1 (Côté) 

DB - 4 (Bolduc, Hamlin, Howell, Pruneau)

The fullback count does not include Brendan Gillanders since he is listed simply as a running back.

You're always looking to improve and add depth, of course, but many of those positions are pretty full. You can only keep so many guys around.

But even if that were not the case, the team added some Canadian players late last year that could turn into good "substitutes" for draft choices.

DB Nate Hamlin was picked up last October following his release by BC. The Lions had drafted him in the fourth round in 2017. He did not play in 2019 but the Carleton product could continue to contribute on special teams, as he did with the Lions, and hopefully grow from there. He turns 25 in June.

I already wrote a post about WR James Tyrrell upon his signing last November. I found him to be an interesting pickup.

In 2018, Tyrrell recorded 17 receptions for 292 yards and a score. He went undrafted in the spring of 2019.

In his 2019 season with Concordia, his numbers blew up to 52 catches for 779 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers are at the top of the USports receiving stats and in line with what the top receiving non-NCAA prospect, Waterloo's Tyler Ternowski (16th on the CFL's latest Scouting Bureau release) put together.  Tyrell is now a Redblack, acquired for "free". This could turn into a quality move quickly.

There may be a better one. DT Julien Laurent was brought in last October, much like Hamlin, and also like Hamlin, he had been released by BC.

Laurent, however, came much more highly-touted. Prior to the 2018 draft, Laurent was considered a top-10 prospect. BC ultimately chose him in the first round, 7th overall. Ottawa got him as a free agent.

This isn't to say that the third-round choice given up and picking lower in the round don't represent a certain value. Of course they do. It's entirely possible that we could have all the players above and that Arbuckle could have been acquired as a free agent without paying that cost.

But based on what could be some shrewd late-season acquisitions in 2019 and being awarded a territorial pick, if you're going to pay that cost, this appears to be a good year to take the chance.

Done Deal: Arbuckle is a Redblack

So this was a bit of a relief. The REDBLACKS announced yesterday that quarterback Nick Arbuckle, whose rights were obtained earlier this month from Calgary for a third round draft choice, had signed a two-year contract with the team. As a result of the signing, Calgary and Ottawa now also swap first-round picks in 2020, giving Calgary the first-overall selection while Ottawa drops to 6th.

Here are his CFL careers numbers.

Some quote which are either lifted from Tim Baines' Sun/Citizen article about the signing or from the team's press release.

GM Marcel Desjardins: “We’ve been going back and forth for a while, being patient with the process. It came to fruition early (Friday). We just had to wait for the paperwork to come back. This is the first step of many as it relates to getting what we expect out of this team on the field.”

“You never know how it’ll work out. Sometimes you have to roll the dice a bit and that’s what we did. We didn’t have any inside knowledge as to how this would play out. But we had confidence in what we, as an organization, could provide from ownership on down — also what our facilities are like and what living in Ottawa is all about for a young man and his wife who are going to have a baby.”

“It starts with what he’s done on the field, when he got a chance to play, going back to two years ago when he came in and beat us here in Ottawa. He did a lot of good things in the games he played for Calgary last year. When we got him here to Ottawa, when he accepted the opportunity to visit with us and visit the city, he showed he was a first-class individual."

HC Paul Lapolice: “We were really impressed with Nick when we met with him and felt that, with what we’ve seen on tape, he’s someone who could put us in a position to be successful. Nick brings the ability to lead a team to wins, with his intelligence, with his leadership, his ability to throw the ball and how he can process information on the football field. We’re excited to have him.”