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. 

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.

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.

Sooners' Keyshawn Upshaw-Tynes is an OFC Special Teams Player of the Week

As we look forward to a Sooners game at the GTA Grizzlies today, let's look back at one of the award recipients following last week's action. The text and graphic are from the Ontario Football Conference's Instagram account.

Upshaw-Tynes provided more than enough scoring all by himself for the win as he returned two kicks for touchdowns.  The Ottawa rookie returned 1 kickoff for 88 yards and a touchdown and then later, adding insult to injury, he returned a missed field goal 115 yards for a touchdown. Upshaw-Tynes also returned a punt for a measly 10 yards. For the game Keyshawn returned 3 kicks for a combined 213 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Sooners LB Quinton Hodgson named OFC Defensive Player of the Week

The Ontario Football Conference announced it's Players of the Week earlier a couple of days ago and Ottawa Sooners linebacker Quinton Hodgson was among those honoured.  

In an upset win on the road in Hamilton there was no bigger play than the 85 yard fumble return for a touchdown by Quinton Hodgson. The fumble return for a touchdown by the Ottawa linebacker took what was going to be sure points for the Hurricanes and turned it into a 7 point lead for Ottawa that proved to be the difference in this hard fought battle. Hodgson also contributed an additional 3 tackles on the day.

The Sooners are currently 2-1 and their defeat of the Hamilton Hurricanes on the road, by a score of 28-21, enabled them to crack the CJFL's power rankings at #10. 

The Ottawa Sooners 1972 Playoff Series vs Verdun

The Sooners joined the Quebec junior league in 1972 and made their presence felt in short order. They lost their first two games but ultimately racked up a 6-3 regular season record then marched their way through the playoffs to secure the league's championship. 

Their first playoff contest was a  single elimination match against the Laval Cobras, won 36-00. That lead to the two-game series against Verdun copied below and now linked to on the Sooners 1960-1980 page. 

October 15th

October 22nd

This would be followed by a loss to Ontario champion Hamilton the following weekend.

If You Watched The 1991 Canadian Cup, Thank Damon Allen!

Damon Allen wasn't always the most popular guy in Ottawa. The 1991 season, in which he was an Eastern all-star, was his third and final one but he would leave a parting gift for amateur football fans shortly following the conclusion of the CFL regular season (the article is from November 8th of that year).

Unfortunately things did not go well for the Sooners in that game but regardless this was was a pretty classy move by a guy who fielded an awful lot of criticism while he was here.

Damon Allen has some favourite charities so I decided to make a token donation to one of them based on his actions from 31 years ago. Let's think of it as a good deed still paying off long-term. ☺

Sept. 10th, 1994: Ottawa Sooners 25, Hamilton Hurricanes 13

Today is the Canadian Junior Football League's National Signing Day. In their own words "the day in which players can finally sign with a CJFL club. When a player signs he is essentially signing for his entire junior football career as the player then becomes the property of that team."

I hope the Sooners take advantage of this event to market themselves a little bit as they continue their rebuild after two seasons away from the field.  As we wait for results, here's a recently-added game summary from 1994 that I came across while looking up information about that year's Rough Riders squad. Enjoy.

Oct. 16th, 1976, Ottawa Citizen: "New Sooner Learns Strange Game Fast"

I spotted the article below about former Sooner Louis Dickenson while tracking down the results of the 1976 senior high school season. 

The body building program appears to have paid off as Dickenson made the 1977 all-conference team. After his playing days, his accomplishments were listed in an advertisement for a local event called  "Building The Body Beautiful" in 1984.

I believe he continued to compete through at least 1985. 

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. 

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.