NCAFA Midget Final 2022 Standings

Just storing these, and the team-by-team scores below, for future reference. Too often I've seen teams change websites and not retain their historical results, so I choose to be their unofficial "back up" in that regard.

Congratulations to the Giants on an undefeated regular season. 

Tristan Johnson commits to Orleans Raftsmen

Orleans Minor Football Commitment announcement From Instagram.  

Our first player announcement for the Raftsmen inaugural season in NCAFA's U19 level. Our club is thrilled to announce Mr. Bengal, Michael “Chilli” Johnson’s son, Tristan Johnson!

Since Tristan began playing at Tyke, he has won Team MVPs at every level and helped his team win various championships. Tristan will soon be U.S. bound, so come watch him now leading the Raftsmen in ’22!

Pride. Respect. Team.

Raftsmen Coaching Announcement

The following announcement is copied from the Orleans Minor Football Association Instagram account.

From a Cyclone (Iowa State, NCAA) that brought “Downtown” to two Grey Cup winners, that then rolled into coaching the Carleton Ravens to now rolling logs down the Ottawa River as a Raftsmen.

The OMFA is proud to welcome Downtown Eddie Brown as our new Midget Head Coach competing in the NCAFA Midget League.

Coach Eddie is assembling one of the finest coaching staffs that will help ensure our players have fun, compete at the highest level and reach their fullest potential.

Cumberland Panthers Announce 2022 Commitments

I'm enjoying what the Cumberland Panthers are doing on Instagram these days. Similarly to how universities name their incoming commitments, the Panthers are making a point of letting us know who intends to be on their senior university team in the OSFL next summer.

There's a general Panthers account but also one specific to the Senior Varsity team, which is worth a follow.

As for Jaylen specifically, here is his 2021 highlights video.

Back when I was able to attend Myers Riders or Cumberland games simply as a fan, it was often brought to my attention how unusual that was. I'd get asked which kid I was there to watch and the answer of  "all of them" seemed to confuse the person asking. 

But that was the honest truth. I like being able to say that I watched Brendan Gillanders at Sir Wilfrid Laurier prior to his time with the Gee-Gees and the REDBLACKS, for example. Why do we love our "local" REDBLACKS yet make so little effort to support them when they're on their way up?

I appreciate that the Panthers are getting player names and faces out there for a little recognition. For that matter, good on them for continuing to keep the team's name and logo in view during the offseason. There is no downside to this.

Orleans Raftsmen Rake It In at QMFL Awards Banquet

The Quebec Midget Football League held it awards banquet this past weekend and unsurprisingly, in light of their league championship win, the Orleans Raftsmen cleaned up. The following members of the team were honoured.


Offensive MVP: Nicolas Rico
Defensive MVP: Nickolas Decoste

Long Snapper: Connor Glenn
Offensive Live MVP: Alex Vinette

The following players were named to the league's all-star team.

Offensive Line: Jacob Traynor & Zachary Seguin

Running Back: Dante Spadaccini

Receiver: Johnny Aoud

Punter: Patrick Massicotte

Defensive Line: Juanito Joseph & Jason Marion

Linebacker: Austin Leshien

Defensive Backs: Justice Koradi & Eric Cumberbatch

Alexandre Vinette profile pic from hudl.com

These results are taken from the Raftsmen Instagram account.

I'm not fully certain about the award given to Connor Glenn, but it was the best translation of "spécialiste de longue remise" that I could come up with.

Evidently someone named to the MVP spot can not occupy a spot on the all-star team at the same time. This appears to apply to Vinette and Glenn above, as well as Nickolas Decoste and Nicolas Rico. If Rico was not the all-star QB otherwise, I'd love to see who got the nod. His highlights are spectacular.

Finally, the coaching staff as a whole was honoured as well. Based on the team's success over the past couple of seasons, that hardly comes as a shock.

Kanata Knights are Interprovincial Midget Champions! But First...

Kanata Knights had an eventful night this past Sunday. They not only successfully defended their 2018 NCAFA Midget championship, they defeated the Quebec Midget Football League champion Orleans Raftsmen to win Interprovincial recognition as well. Not interprovincial in any real way, but it goes down in the books as such, anyway.

I didn't find anything about the interprovincial game in the Sun/Citizen and local papers can be slow to report on these things. Case in point, the Orleans Star reported on the game the Raftsmen played in Montreal on November 3rd against the North Shore Mustangs only on November 12th.

But we'll take it for now! A portion of that article, by long-time local sports reporter Fred Sherwin, is copied below. The full version is here.

...the Raftsmen caught a break midway through the first quarter when the (Mustangs) went for it on fourth and one on the three-yard line and end up coughing up the ball. Orléans linebacker Eric Cumberbatch was Johnny on the spot to recover the loose ball and end the threat. 

The Raftsmen were unable to move the ball on their series and decided to give up a safety rather than attempt a punt from their end zone. It would be the only points the Mustangs would score all game. 

The Raftsmen's first touchdown came early in the second quarter on a 38-yard run up the middle by Dante Spadaccini. 

The Raftsmen's second touchdown came on a 25-yard pass from Nick Rico to Colin Doherty who managed to keep his feet in bounds at the back of the end zone with 1:02 left in the first half. 

The final touchdown was set up by a 58-yard punt return by Ethan Wilson. The decisive blow was delivered by Rico who threw a bullet to Jonathan Aoude who was standing on the goal line. 

The Raftsmen would add a single off a punt in the fourth quarter that the Mustangs were unable to get out of their end zone to make the final score 22-2 in favour of Orleans.

It was a dominating performance by the Raftsmen who finished the regular season with an 5-2 record. Their two losses came against the Kanata Knights in a crossover game with the NCAFA team in their season opener and the Mustangs who beat them 22-7 on Sept. 28. 

Among their five wins were five shut-outs which contributed to their league best points against total (58) and points differential (+57). The Raftsmen allowed just 158 yards in offence against the Mustangs in the championship game while racking up 297 yards when they had the ball. 

Rico completed 11 of 14 passes for 157 yards...He also ran for 30 yards on seven carries and a TD. Spadaccini finished the game with 97 yards on 16 carries and a touchdown...

The Raftsmen's stellar season would end on a sour note in the Interprovincial Bowl on Sunday, Nov. 10. 

The NCAFA champion Kanata Stallions beat them 22-14 to maintain the National Capital Amateur Football Association dominance over the QMFL. NCAFA teams are now 9-1 against their Quebec counterparts in the season finale for both leagues.

It was actually 28-14. And when local papers catch up, I'll try to locate and post a recap of that game.

The photo above was lifted from the Knights' Facebook page. I'm not certain who took it but it certainly wasn't me.

I should also mention that it was good to see Fred Sherwin's name attached to one of these articles. He was a go-to guy for me when I ran the original version of this website/blog from about 2007 to 2012 or so. He provides a lot of detailed coverage about the youth sports programs in Orleans. His work was, and continues to be, appreciated.

Orleans Bengals Midget Squad To Be Named The Orleans Raftsmen

Today, the storied Orléans Bengals Midget Team is pleased to announce that as part of joining the Quebec Midget Football League for the 2018 season, the team will be named the Orléans Raftsmen. 

 

The Raftsmen bilingual heritage of Orléans and Ottawa is rich in tradition and our Midget football club will echo the spirits of the land, the rivers and the people of the Ottawa Valley. 

“This will be an exciting and rewarding opportunity for our players to play in one of the best football leagues in the country,” said George Zigoumis, president of the Orléans Bengals. “Our football club is committed to developing these student athletes by enhancing higher education possibilities for them.” 

For athletes 16 and 17 years of age looking to play for an Ontario-Quebec inter-provincial championship and gain exposure to CEGEPs and universities, message the Head Coach-Ron Raymond at ronraymond@rogers.com

Raftsmen was one of the names being floated around for the new CFL franchise though I don't recall (or care, at this point) if it was an option teased by the team or one suggested by fans.

This is just personal opinion, but I detest when teams name/brand themselves after existing franchises. I think the Orleans organization went in the right direction here and while it's doubtful I'll get to attend too many of their games, I'd love to load up on merchandise bearing that logo.