Nov 11th, 2005: Merivale 22, Colonel By 02

The high school page was originally built to include only the senior level. Generally speaking, the site tracks football from ages 17 onwards so junior high school football doesn't get much attention.

For a few years in the mid-2000s, the senior level operated in two tiers. I believe the major difference was that tier one could compete provincially, and tier two did not. Tier one, then, was perceived as being the superior of the two and got all the attention here.

Whether that perception is accurate or not, tier two was still senior football and now that the high school page is filling up quite nicely, it's time to start adding the second tier, starting with Merivale's championship in 2005. Standings and playoff results leading up to that game have been added, as well as a brief summary of St. Peter's semifinal win in Tier 1.

I'm not sure exactly why the article goes off a cliff like that at the end but that's not my doing. 

The Lost High School Championship

I came across something of an oddity while filling gaps in my high school football page earlier today.

In 1971, the Rideau Rams defeated St. Patrick 10-07 for the senior high school football crown. The recap of that game makes reference to the Ottawa High Schools Athletic Association (or OHSAA). So far so good.

Then in 1972, the Carleton school board fielded a competitive football league at the senior level.  A recap of St. Pius' win over Merivale in the final claimed that it was the first such game.

By all accounts at least some of the team (St. Pius for certain, as they were said to be winless the season before) had been playing for some time but I believe that was at the intermediate level (17 and under). They were now working under a junior/senior system so on that basis, this was indeed the first senior championship for the school board. Okay, fair enough, we've got that ironed out.

St. Pius would continue to roll in 1973. They knocked off Merivale again in the Carleton board finals then met the OHSAA champ Hillcrest and defeated them 33-07. This was the first time that champions from both school boards would meet head-to-head to determine a city champion.

St. Pius' Dave Behm, uncredited photo from the Nov. 10th, 1973, Ottawa Journal

All right, so that all makes sense, except...What happened to the OHSAA in 1972? Any record I find of past high school champions names only St. Pius. Why is the first-ever Carleton board champion St. Pius team generally regarded as the city champion if the two boards didn't play head-to-head until 1973? Why is there no OHSAA title recognized?

There was indeed an OHSAA champion. In fact, there were two.

The second was in 1954. Milton is making it sound like it happens every other day but at this point it hadn't happened in nearly 20 years. They first met in 1952 and their last meeting prior to this one was in 1959.

So while St. Pius is generally recognized as the 1972 high school champions, they are actually one of three champions that year. Rather than recognize St. Pat's and Fisher Park as co-champions, it appears as though history has deemed that a true OHSAA champion was never named. That's actually not the case so I'll add that championship for both teams on the High School page above.

Fisher Park would secure another title in 1977. That shared championship in 1972 would be St. Patrick's last so it really should be recognized.