So What Happened Before 1926?

Records of past high school champions tend to start from 1927. In December of 2019, I tried to figure out the structure of high school ball prior to that year. did they not play at all? Or were schools playing but only in exhibition contest?

There did appear to be a local champion in 1926, namely Ottawa College, but they clinched the championship when Glebe defeated Lisgar late in the season. Lisgar had been the only team left to challenge for first place in the circuit so Ottawa College won the championship due to the result of a game in which they did not participate. You can read more about that here.

So then, was there a champion prior to Ottawa College in 1926?  It would appear so and as is so often the case, I found it by fluke. 

I was adding some more information about the 1966 high school season, won by Nepean, their first and only one.

Or was it??? (As Rod Black would say)

Early in the newspaper game summary, this part stands out. 

Well, then, let's see what happened in 1925.

In looking for additional information/confirmation, I located a bunch of Nepean high school yearbooks in pdf format added to the Lost Ottawa Facebook page by one Martha Aksim in 2018. The 1926 edition was included, much to my pleasant surprise, and it features the 1925 team rather prominently. There are summaries of every game including the 12-01 victory over Glebe described above as well as the photograph below.

You'll note that it states Dominion Interscholastic champs.

The yearbook explains further. The newspaper article above explained that Nepean was expected to meet Renfrew shortly after defeating Glebe. Nepean did just that and defeated them 7-4 for the Ottawa Valley crown.

Cornwall was next on the schedule. We'll let the yearbook take it from here.

Hell of a run!

Having shared the 1925 team picture, and having the Nepean yearbooks at my fingertips right at the moment, let's take a second to display and honour the 1966 too, then.