"Ravens Announce Six Local Recruits"

OTTAWA – The Carleton Ravens football team is proud to announce they have added six local recruits for the 2022 season.

The six local recruits from the Ottawa-Gatineau region mark the first players announced ahead of the team’s ninth season since their return to OUA competition in 2013.

The Ravens have added defensive back Alex Boily, linebackers Andrew Christie and Ethan Boxall, offensive lineman Noah Fahey and wide receivers Daniel Sheehan and Nicholas Cerquozzi.

Defensive back Alex Boily joins the Ravens from Franco-Cité High School and the North Gloucester Giants. Boily grew up attending Ravens games and looks forward to the rush from Canada’s loudest and proudest fans this fall.

Andrew Christie of the North Gloucester Giants (NCAFA) was named to the All Ontario Community All Star team and was the leagues Top Defensive Player. A physical linebacker, Christie has the ability to make plays all over the field.

Sheehan joins the program from the highly successful John Abbott College Islanders team who were the 2017 and 2019 RSEQ Div 2 winners. A wide receiver, Sheehan had 22 catches for 300 yards in 2021.

Receiver Nicholas Cerquozzi joins the Ravens from the St. Marks Lions where he was voted 1st Team All-Star in the OHSFL. An incoming business student, Cerquozzi is a fast, twitchy slot receiver who will look to prove himself at the university level.

Rounding out the Ravens recruiting class are linebacker Ethan Boxall and offensive lineman Noah Fahey. Boxall and Fahey join the program from the Nepean Broncos and Holy Trinity Tornadoes but have long been members of the Carleton community. Both players are second-generation Ravens following in the footsteps of their fathers who played for the Ravens during their times at Carleton.

CJFL Spotlight on Gord Hudson

Following the announcement that Gord Hudson was named Head Coach of the Ottawa Sooners, the CJFL turned their spotlight on him and produced the interview below. Have a listen. 

Sept. 7th, 2008: "Sacobie Racks Up Record in Rout"

2008 Gee-Gees results are being added and since a significant record was set in the second game of the season, I wanted to dedicate a post specific to it. 

"Ravens Name Corey Grant as the New Head Coach"

OTTAWA – The Carleton Ravens are proud to announce Corey Grant as the new head coach of the Carleton Ravens football team. Grant becomes the 14th head coach in the history of the Ravens varsity football program.

Grant joins the Ravens from the McMaster Marauders where he has served as the assistant coach and offensive coordinator since 2019. In addition to his role with the football team, Grant was also an Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism Lead within McMaster’s Department of Athletics and Recreation. Prior to joining the Marauders, Grant spent six years coaching with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats where he served in various roles including assistant offensive coordinator.

Over the past two seasons with the Marauders, Grant’s offences were consistently ranked at the top of the OUA in total offence, passing yards and first downs. In 2019 Grant and the Marauders won the Yates Cup as OUA champions.

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A former teacher with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, Grant holds a Master of Science in Education and his teaching certification from Canisius College, along with a Bachelor of Arts, Sociology from Wilfrid Laurier University.

Prior to his career in coaching, Grant had an 11-year CFL career with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes and Saskatchewan Roughriders. A two-time Grey Cup Champion, Grant was named the 1999 Eastern Conference Rookie of the Year after being drafted 7th overall in the 1999 CFL Draft.

In addition to his extensive football resume, Grant has a lengthy resume of community work, including being the Co-Chair of the OUA Black Biracial Indigenous Committee (BBI), Assistant Director of the Black Canadian Coaches Association, Chair of the Hamilton Black History Council, and the Founder of the Black Football Coaches of Canada, among many other highlights. His community leadership also includes having developed the OUA’s United Against Racism campaign idea and the Football Coaching Apprenticeship for Women at McMaster University.

"REDBLACKS sign three offensive players"

The REDBLACKS are catching up on announcing their signings, today drawing attention to signings made February 14th (Marshall), February 28th (Hardy) and McCrorey (March 8th).

OTTAWA - The REDBLACKS continued to fill out their offensive roster on Friday with the signing of three American players including receiver Justin Hardy, running back Byron Marshall and offensive lineman Kyle McCrorey. 

Hardy, 30, brings 73 games of NFL experience to the REDBLACKS, having played the bulk of his pro career with the Atlanta Falcons. In all, Hardy has 95 receptions for 946 receiving yards and nine touchdowns in the NFL. The Falcons selected Hardy, who suited up for the 2017 Super Bowl, in the fourth round of the 2015 NFL Draft. 

HEIGHT: 5-10 | WEIGHT: 192 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1991-12-18 

HOMETOWN: Washington, DC | SCHOOL: East Carolina

Running back Byron Marshall (34) carries the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the New York Giants in Landover, Md., Thursday, Nov. 23, 2017. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

Marshall, 27, played 13 games in the National Football League with the Philadelphia Eagles (2016) and Washington Football Team (2017-18), registering 31 carries for 105 rushing yards, 13 receptions for 76 receiving yards and 12 kick returns for 239 yards. He also spent time with the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens in 2019.

HEIGHT: 5-9 | WEIGHT: 205 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1994-02-13

HOMETOWN: San Jose, CA | SCHOOL: Oregon

McCrorey, 24, started all 11 games of his 2018 senior collegiate season, helping lift his team's running game to nearly 1,600 yards and 18 touchdowns. While starting all but one game the year before, McCrorey helped an offensive line that allowed just 12 sacks all season. 

HEIGHT: 6-3 | WEIGHT: 296 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1997-03-07

HOMETOWN: Montgomery, TX  | SCHOOL: Southeastern Oklahoma State

"REDBLACKS sign American defensive trio"

The Ottawa REDBLACKS announced three player signings earlier today. Oddly, enough, they weren't the players I was expecting.  

OTTAWA - The Ottawa REDBLACKS on Thursday announced the addition of three American defensive players to the roster, including defensive linemen Jhaustin Thomas and Trevon McSwain and defensive back Denzel Rice. 

Thomas, 28, spent the 2021 season with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats after kicking off his CFL career with the Toronto Argonauts in 2019. In 11 regular season contests, Thomas has 14 defensive tackles and a sack, all coming with the Argos. 

HEIGHT: 6-6 | WEIGHT: 275 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1993-04-13

HOMETOWN: Atlanta, GA | SCHOOL: Trinity Valley

McSwain, 25, was revealed as a member of the REDBLACKS negotiation last December and has now officially signed with the club. In 49 career games at Duke, McSwain had 18 starts, 102 tackles, 14 tackles for loss, 7.5 sacks and five forced fumbles. 

HEIGHT: 6-6 | WEIGHT: 285 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1996-11-04

HOMETOWN: Suwanee, GA | SCHOOL: Duke

 Denzel Rice by Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Rice, 28, joins the REDBLACKS after spending 2021 with the Spring League's Blues. Signed as an undrafted free agent by the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015, Rice spent time with Indianapolis, Cleveland, Buffalo and Baltimore, appearing in 19 total NFL games while recording 14 defensive tackles and an interception.

HEIGHT: 6-0 | WEIGHT: 187 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1993-03-31

HOMETOWN: Winston-Salem, NC | SCHOOL: Coastal Carolina

All right, so that's that. So why were these guys not the signing announcements I expected? Because they've been signed for weeks.

Rice appeared on the league website's transactions list on January 26th, McSwain on February 23rd and Thomas on February 14th. So the most recent of these signings took place on Valentine's Day.

Who did I expect to be included in the announcement? Well, Justin Hardy, finally. He signed February 28th so maybe they'll make that one official around April 3rd or so. And yesterday, two more guys appeared on cfl.ca. 

One is Randy Richards, an American offensive tackle who played his college ball at Missouri State. He turned 31 in January. Here's the info provided about him by the Elks when he signed with Edmonton last year. 

Randy Richards is a six-year CFL veteran with experience playing both the left and right tackle positions. In his career, Richards has played in 39 games between stints in Saskatchewan, Calgary, and Toronto. (He) has started in two Grey Cup games for the Calgary Stampeders (2017 and 2018), winning in 2018. Richards attended the College of the Sequoias before transferring to Missouri State from 2011-2012. The offensive lineman spent time in the NFL with both the San Diego Chargers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers before joining the CFL in 2014.

The other player is a linebacker from Florida State, named Terrance Smith. He'll be 29 in May and I believe this is his first CFL stint. He played in 34 NFL games, mostly with Kansas City, between 2016 and 2021, contributing 24 tackles, a sack and an INT.

Maybe there's a good reason it's taken between 4-6 weeks to announce these new acquisitions and perhaps other teams take several weeks to announce new players too. I don't track other teams so I can't say either way. But I remain baffled at how roster moves seem like an afterthought for this team.

Ottawa Sooners Coaching Announcement

OTTAWA - We are proud to announce our Head Coach for this year's CJFL season, Coach Gordon Hudson.

With a stellar repertoire, Coach Gord, a former semi-professional football player, has been affiliated with the Ottawa Sooners Team from as early as his younger playing days. He played two solid seasons with the team, appearing in the National Championships 4 years straight, leading to a win in 1984.

He is also seen to have coached the Ottawa Sooners Midget Program in 1996, after receiving his level 2 coaching certification.

We are proud to have him on board, and we are confident he will lead the team to victory.

"Former CFL All-Star Fred Reid joins REDBLACKS as running backs coach"

OTTAWA - The Ottawa REDBLACKS have rounded out their coaching staff, hiring former CFL All-Star Fred Reid as running backs coach for the 2022 season.

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Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the 39 year-old Reid served as running backs coach for the Toronto Argonauts during the 2021 CFL campaign. Despite rushing the fourth-fewest times as a team, last year, the Argonauts ended the season with 1,272 rushing yards, and 10 touchdowns on the ground, the third-highest mark across the league.

As a player, Reid enjoyed a brief stint with the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers, as well as the Mississippi Mudcats, in the second incarnation of ArenaFootball. He then moved on to the CFL, joining the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and seeing his best statistical season under now-REDBLACKS head coach Paul LaPolice in 2010, rushing for 1,396 yards and six touchdowns.

All told, Reid appeared in 83 CFL games from 2007-2011, rushing for 4,451 yards, and 22 touchdowns, to go with 1,214 return yards.

Ottawa REDBLACKS Sign WR Justin Hardy

Justin Hardy, a wide receiver who played most of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons, was signed by the REDBLACKS on February 28th, according to the CFL's own transactions report. Yet, for some reason, the team has never bothered to announce it.

Here are his Falcons receiving numbers copied from the NFL's site under a rather cool photo by Bob Andres. 

The NFL lists him as being 5'10", 192. He had a record-setting career at East Carolina prior to that including setting the mark for career receptions in the NCAA in 2014. He twice surpassed the 100-reception mark. The Falcons drafted him in the fourth round in 2015. He turned 30 this past December.

Does this not seem newsworthy?  The Ottawa Sun/Citizen did have a story about it, as did some fan-based media outlets. 

The REDBLACKS? Nothing yet. Sometimes with this team it feels like the actual roster is an afterthought.

We Should Know More About: Ace Powell (Both of them)

I posted the image below on Twitter the other day. I did not save the full caption attached to it in the paper at the time but it read, in part: "Ace Powell tees up the ball and George Fraser, high-scoring Ottawa Rough Rider and 1945 winner of the Jeff Russel Memorial Trophy, displays his placement-kicking artistry for the benefit of The Citizen cameraman". It appeared in the November 3rd edition of that newspaper. 

It might require further clarification. The Ottawa Sooners and Carleton Ravens were coached by a gentleman named Ace Powell in the 70s and 80s. His birth name is Wayne. I believe the image above is of Clayton Powell, his father. The article below is essentially an obituary for Clayton following his passing in 2004 and it refers to his time as a Rough Rider. 

What gives me cause to doubt all this is that Carleton's page about its past football coaches refer to Wayne Powell as a "Jr" which normally suggests the same first name as the father. That's obviously not the case here though they could simply be referring to the "Ace" part. 

It seems the younger Ace Powell got into coaching almost immediately after leaving university. He played at uOttawa in the late 60s and was mentioned as a replacement on the coaching staff for the 1973 team while also coaching at Sir Robert Borden high school. That led to coaching the Sooners to a national championships in 1979 and eventually the Carleton Ravens gig. The Ravens experienced their only playoff success during his time as coach. Both father and son have carved out impressive careers for themselves. 

Nov 4th, 1938: Quilty Comes Off The Bench

I think I  saw something similar in an episode of Coach.

Now that most of the senior football championship summaries are collected, it's time to move on to semi and quarter finals.

The first sudden death playoff game at the senior high school level came in 1934 when Glebe and St. Patrick's were tied at the top of the standings at the end of regular play. Rather than leave it to some tie-breaker, the two teams met for the third time a few days later after having split their regular season meetings at a win apiece. Perhaps in (eventual) response to that situation, a shorter regular season with a semi-final playoff format was added in 1937.

The 1938 playoffs include an interesting anecdote in which St. Patrick's Johnny Quilty went from spectator to key contributor. 

Down 5-0, Quilty's efforts set up the tying score and an interception late in the game sealed the victory.

In light of how often he is mentioned in the strip above, I wish Hazel's first name had been provided.  

In any event, while the playoff system was still in its infancy and the forward pass was still somewhat viewed as a novelty, it seems that roster rules had yet to be fully worked out as well.

Nov 18th, 2000: uOttawa 20, McMaster 15 (Churchill Bowl)

Playoff game summaries for the 2000 National Champion Gee-Gees have been added to their page but because this Churchill Bowl summary was awkwardly displayed, I'm putting it into a post to link to from that page. 

Sept 29th, 2001: Sooners 16, Jr. Riders 15 (OT)

By broadening my search, I've now managed to track down all the Jr. Riders results from 1997 to 2001 inclusively. The Gazette newspaper from Montreal was very helpful in nailing down the few missing scores that had eluded me until last night.

There were a few game summaries added as well, though many are just a single paragraph rundown of the players who scored. Some weren't even that detailed, they were essentially a confirmation of the score, the team's place in the standings, and their next opponent. I didn't bother copying those.

There is a discrepancy that I can't seem to figure out though; The official standings I've seen for that season display the Riders at 6-1-1 but...I can't find a tie among their results. The closest is the game below which even mentions that the Riders were 4-2 as a result of that overtime loss against the Sooners. 

My guess is that this game was misidentified as a tie by someone.

The Sooners would win another one-point game against the Jr. Riders in the Manson Cup, after which the Jr. Riders moved to the Ontario Football Conference on the Canadian Junior League. More on that later but for now, their first era is about as fully recorded here as it's going to be. 

As for the Sooners, I'd started to wonder about the state of their big comeback because they'd been so quiet since the announcement but they returned to social media this past week, including a new Instagram account.

I find the hashtags used encouraging here. They appear to be aiming to restore teams at the varsity level (OSFL, Ontario Summer Football League) and senior/semi-pro (NFC, Northern Football Conference) as well as their standard junior club. I thought they might focus on the junior club initially then expand from there but that doesn't seem to be the case. It looks like steam ahead. Great news unless I'm making too much of a couple of hashtags.  

The 1957 United Funds Football Tournament: Fisher Park 22, Toronto Bathurst Heights 15

Well, son of a bitch, Ottawa actually brought in one of these at some point and has Fisher Park to thank for it.

Having taken some time to give a longer look at the first Panda Game in 1955 earlier today, I thought I'd move ahead with this tournament. Since the next one to cover was 1957's and I was in the neighborhood, so to speak, I took a few minutes to glance at its results. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

Ottawa schools have a history of success at this football exhibition; they usually defeat the opponent presented to them in fairly convincing manner.

However, the trophy was normally handed off to another team that also won its game that weekend so seeing it handed over to an Ottawa rep was a bit of a shock. I suspect the dramatic fashion in which the game was won played a significant factor. Good for Fisher. 

Fattening the Panda

The results of the Panda Game, the annual rivalry game between Carleton University and uOttawa, were all tabulated some time ago on a page bearing that very name. Most entries now include at least a partial game summary as well.

So now that the basics are down, the goal moving forward is to provide greater detail surrounding those contests including the antics involving its coveted prize, Pedro the Panda. 

Starting at the beginning seemed to make sense. I tracked down what appears to be the first mention of Pedro in the Ottawa Citizen from October 4th, 1955. 

Sure enough, Pedro was stolen two days later. It took all of two days for a tradition of mascot-based shenanigans to begin.

I knew I'd found a picture of a couple of Carleton players posing with Pedro following this game so he had either been recovered or replaced in short order. In fact, he parachuted in some time during the fourth quarter. 

So a pretty eventful debut for the city's favourite stuffed (at the time) bear.

I'll continue looking for details of his adventures over the decades in which he was particularly active. For now, in addition to the articles above, a more detailed summary for the 1955 contest was added at the bottom of the Panda Game page.