St. Patrick's College's 1965 Season

It can be argued that St. Patrick's College could have a more prominent place in Ottawa football history if only they'd had that one defining moment. In 1965, they came very close to making that loud statement.

The Ottawa-St. Lawrence football conference, in which St. Pat's played, was split into two divisions. St. Patrick's College was fairly dominant in theirs, but Carleton and uOttawa were in the other division and were each 5-0 going into that year's Panda Game. As a result, most of the eyeballs were aimed in the direction of those two schools while St. Pat's was quietly putting together a solid season of their own.

Here are St. Patrick's results in their four-team division.

Oct  2nd: @ Macdonald College W 33-14
Oct  9th: College Militaire Royale W 45-07

Oct 16th: Bishop's W 16-00
Oct 23rd: @ Bishop's L 07-25
Oct 30th: @ College Militaire Royale W 39-00
Nov 6th: Macdonald  College W 32-09

The final game above secured the Eastern division for St. Pat's, the reward for which would be to meet the 7-0 uOttawa Gee-Gees for the Conference Crown. 

In the championship game, uOttawa would overcome a  23-14 deficit and score 25 unanswered points to win 39-23. To have held on to their early lead to conquer an undefeated, perennial championship contender, perhaps St. Patrick's presence in local football history would be a little more commonly known.

They placed a few players on the conference all-star team. That list, and the team picture below, are both lifted from the school's1967 yearbook. 

St. Patrick's College merged with Carleton University in 1967, effectively terminating the football program, but they were not shy about taking credit for bolstering the Ravens roster. The following is from St. Patrick's 1968 yearbook.

The summaries for the division-clinching game against Macdonald above make mention of a past St. Patrick's championship. Unfortunately, one newspaper states that it was in 1957 while the other claims it was in 1958. I believe the former to be accurate but we'll do a little research there and shine a spotlight on it soon.