Dec. 2nd, 1939: Ottawa Rough Riders 23 @ Sarnia Imperials 01

Already going off script a little bit with the game summary below.

The Rough Riders did not win the Grey Cup in 1939 but they did reach the big game. They did so by defeating Sarnia of the ORFU as described in the following article. They suffered a narrow loss in the Cup game, 8-7, to Winnipeg.

Sammy Sward, while not as "household" a name as that of many Rough Riders of yore, had himself a day. "Herman" refer to Charles "Tiny" Herman and Burke's first name, unused in the article portions copied below, is Orville.   

1934 Senior High School Playoffs: Glebe 8, St. Patrick's 00

I intend to add many more game summaries to this blog and where senior high school football is concerned, this particular match-up is the best place to start.

This game has the distinction of being the first playoff meeting in the history of the sport at that level. Prior to that, meaning from 1927 to 1933, the team at the top of the standings by season's end was deemed the circuit's champion.

In 1934, Glebe and St. Patrick's had identical records and split their two meetings during the season.  

The system didn't catch on immediately. I'll need to do some double-checking but I believe teams first played semi-finals in 1937 on their way to naming a champion and the method held up from that point on.

We'll figure it out for sure later but for now we know that Glebe and St. Pat's staged the first ever playoff game in Ottawa senior high school history. 

1933: Tommy Daley Explodes Onto The Eastern Senior Interscholastic Football Scene

Tommy Daley's career with the local pro teams (Rough Riders and Trojans) spanned most of the ten years between 1936 and 1945 and four Grey Cup appearances including the 1940 title.

Daley's potential to excel at the highest level of the sport was in full display during his first senior high school season in 1933. Glebe's rather dominant points-for/points-against ratio is mentioned in the article below, written after Glebe had secured the senior city championship but prior to the Eastern Ontario playoffs.

Daley's dominance that season is also noted. Get a load of that ridiculous scoring summary.

Glebe's 1933 scores have been added to the high school page. The Blue and Gold would go on to win the city and EOSSA titles for that season and continue to do so over the next two.

With Daley no longer on the team in 1936, Glebe turned the title over to St. Patrick's. No doubt there were other factors at play, but Daley's departure had to have played a large part.