The 1974 Sooners' Two-Game Playoff Series Against Hamilton

As mentioned in yesterday's post, here are the summaries of the 1974 Ottawa Sooners' two-game series against Hamilton.

November 2nd

November 2nd

The 1974 Sooners' Two-Game Playoff Series Against Niagara

This post comes on the heels of the announcement that the 1974 Ottawa Sooners are being inducted into the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame.  

In looking at this site's content about that specific edition of the team, I was surprised at how thin it was. They're mentioned very little here.

Seeking to remedy that, I began to look for content from newspapers archives. I was quickly reminded why I've recorded so little. While there is plenty of information available, its quality is quite poor, as you'll see below.

Nevertheless...I added the team's first playoff game summary to the Sooners (Junior 1960-1980) page. That game was followed by a two-game series against Niagara. The first game's recap is directly below, from the Citizen. 

Chiarelli wasn't dicking around. The Sooners were far more dominant in the second game. Here's the summary of that one from the Ottawa Journal. 

This led to another two-game series, this time against Hamilton. I'll see what I can dig up about those two games. 

1931, Oct 5th: "Gladstones Surprise Rough Riders To Win, 13-6"

Not THOSE Rough Riders. 

This partial article from the Ottawa Citizen summarizes one of three junior games played that day. It was the first weekend of action for the league as a whole, as it launched that year. 

I'll have summaries of the other two games played that day in separate posts. 

A portion of this article was used in a post on this blog a couple of years back in which I attempted to nail down the guy who threw the first-ever forward pass for an Ottawa team. Since this was the league's first year of operation, this Art Crain dude is likely the first to do it at the junior level.

There were two other games played that day, including St. Patrick's College vs Rangers, which started at the same time as the Gladstone / Ottawas match. Crain still seems likely to be the man, as his passing prowess appears to have taken place during the first quarter. We'll likely never know for sure, but a strong argument can be made for him.

1980, Aug. 18th: "Airborne Sooners Blank Burlington"

2023 Ottawa Sooner Conference All-Stars

As selected by a panel of coaches within the conference, here are the Sooners who have been named to the all-star team this year.

The Sooners finished the regular season with a 4-4 record and will travel to face the St. Clair Saints (8-0) this Saturday evening at 7PM in semi-final action. The last time they met, the Saints won 28-26.  

OFC Players of the Week: Week 4

The Sooners faced a tough start to their 2023 regular season schedule, resulting in an 0-3 start, but they continued to battle and recorded their first win last weekend in no small part due to the contributions of defensive lineman Richard Graham.  His performance earned him one of the player of the week honours. 

Richard Graham - #1 -  Ottawa Sooners

The Sooners’ defensive catalyst led a hard hitting Ottawa defence to their first win of the season over the previously undefeated Quinte Skyhawks. Graham wrecked havoc as he compiled 2 quarterback sacks, 2 tackles, blocked a kick and intercepted a pass which he returned for a 72 yard touchdown. In all Graham produced 20 defensive points on the day.

2022 Jr. Rider All-Stars!

It may seem late to reveal these, but they only appeared on the league's website on April 2nd. I believe the QMJFL tends to announce their all-star teams as part of the launch of the upcoming season, typically. Hell, I've taken to seeing it as a sign that spring has finally arrived! 😋  

A subsequent post on the league's site named their individual award winners as well. Here they are. 

Nov. 8th, 1924: Westmount (Montreal) 02 @ Rideaus 15

The summary below is for the first of a two-game series between the junior QRFU's Rideaus and Westmount for that union's championship. The winner would earn the right to play for the Dominion title.

McInenly below, first name Bert, was singled out for quality play by the article's writer prior to the quarter-by-quarter breakdown copied here. 

St. Germain, meanwhile, was named Ralph, and was in the early days of what would be a distinguished athletic career, as evidenced by his write-up in the McGill Hall of Fame. 

There's an obvious error in the article below as the first paragraph suggests that Westmount lost the point they earned in the first quarter.

Laishley below was named Lyle, while Bruce's first name was Stewart.

That would be Clyde Moran getting into the action in the fourth quarter.

Rideau would travel to Montreal the following weekend and lose 12-06 but still win the series on total point and therefore secure the QRFU junior title. A battle against Hamilton loomed on the march towards the Dominion championship.

Nov. 1st, 1969: Ottawa Sooners 33, Windsor AKO Fratmen 00

The game summary below appeared in the November 3rd, 1969, Ottawa Citizen. Its wonky layout made it awkward to fit on the Sooners' own page.   

Turns out they had plenty of trouble with the west, they lost 28-07 to Saskatoon two weeks later in the national championship game.

The 1966 Golden Eagles / Sooners Playoff Series

The Ottawa Sooners owned the Interprovincial Junior Football League in the early 1960s but in 1966 the Eastview Golden Eagles were the dominant force on the Ontario side.

An article summarizing their final game of the 1965 season indicated that the Eagles would lose only four players to eligibility rules going into the next season and clearly that experience was a huge factor in their 1966 success. The won their first five games of that season by shut out before losing the sixth to the Sooners by a score of 12-00. They turned that result around for the seventh and final game, defeating those same Sooners 18-16. 

The two teams would then meet for a two game playoff series, both won by Eastview. 

October 16th

October 23rd

I was specific to being dominant in Ontario because following their series victory of the Sooners, the Golden Eagles lost 15-00 to Quebec powerhouse Notre Dame de Grace in Montreal the next weekend.

Among the players on the Eastview team was Paul Paddon who would go on to win the Hec Creighton award at the university of Ottawa in 1970. He only participated in a portion of the season because he went to play in the States for a spell.

Barry Ardern's name should be familiar as a defensive back with the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1968 to 1972. He played on both offense and defense for Eastview.

Jim Foley, another eventual Rough Rider, was also a contributor to that Eastview team. He was with the Riders from 1973 to 1976, earning two Grey Cup victories and the league's 1975 Most Outstanding Canadian award. 

Oct 29th, 1983: "Sooners Beat Montreal to Make National Final"

The image below is of Peppi LaRiccia (left) and George Gariepy according to the accompanying caption which I didn't not copy. 

Oct 20th, 1973: "'Bombs' Save Sooners from Grid Defeat"

The game below was the first playoff contest for the 1973 Sooners. While the team was said to be undefeated, accurately, they did have a tie in their regular season record that had come against this same Verdun team. 

2022 Ontario Football Conference Awards

The OFC took a week off for Thanksgiving and now prepare to head into its playoffs. They took the opportunity to hand out some hardware in the meantime.

Let's start with the following players that have been named to the Conference's All-Star team:

QB Owen Cowan
WR Nathan Coleman
OL Jett Hudson
DL Richard Graham 
LB Shawn Charles 
    
Now Owen Cowan actually shared the all-star team quarterback honour with another player (from St. Clair) but he nailed down the offensive rookie of the year award for himself. 

Over the course of the regular season, Cowan completed 92 of 172 attempts for 1,254 yards, nine touchdowns and nine interceptions.

And to cap it all off, the man responsible for the team's resurgence also got a well-deserved pat on the back.

Congratulations all, it's been great to have the Sooners back. 

OFC Defensive Player of the Week: LB Richard Graham

As he has done all season for Ottawa, Richard Graham was all over the field making plays for the Sooners.  In addition to his 3 solo tackles, Graham picked off a pass that he returned 51 yards to the house for a touchdown.

Sept. 13th, 1964: "Trojans Still Undefeated, Sooners Win Over Lions"

A few recaps from games played in the early 60s are being added to the IJFL page this morning and the ones displayed below will be linked to it shortly. Being that it is particularly informative, including standings, scoring summaries, etc., I thought is warranted a bit more prominence. It originally appeared in the following day's Ottawa Citizen. 

Dan Dever's name might jump out for some. He played with the Ottawa Rough Riders from 1968 to 1973, winning three Grey Cups along the way.  

The suggestion that injuries might prove costly to the Trojans was prophetic. They lost their two remaining regular season games then were skunked by the Sooners in a two-game playoff series to the tune of 57-13.