Oct 12th, 1927: Glebe 05, Lisgar 02

1927 is largely considered the year in which high school football started in Ottawa.

That claim is not entirely factual; games from 1925 and 1926 have been recorded here so teams did play prior to 1927. However, I believe that the local schools began being affiliated with the EOSSA that year and therefore fully organized for the first time, hence it began the recognize starting point.

The majority of championship results/recaps have been recorded on the High School page with some additional work done recently to track down standings and playoff game finals from the mid-2000s. But tonight, I thought I'd go back and track down the first "official" senior high school game played in Ottawa. 

Not surprisingly, it turned out to be a little unclear.

The brief Ottawa Citizen article below states clearly that Glebe and Lisgar met in the "opening game of the school season", yet the Ottawa Journal's summary of the game made reference to the teams looking crisper than they had in an earlier contest. I was unable to locate any reference to a game being played in the prior two weeks or so, so I don't know for certain what the Journal's writer meant by that. So the article below will do for now until I prove myself wrong.

Nov 13th, 1954: Montreal Alouettes 12 @ Ottawa Rough Riders 14

Got my day started by looking up the last time an Ottawa professional football team went winless at home as the Redblacks did this season.

The 1987 - 1988 Rough Riders teams had a long home losing streak, but it was bookended by victories in each season. The 1987 team won its first two home games, the second of which took place on July 11th. The 1988 team won on October 22nd, its second-to-last home game. So neither provided the answer.

I thought the 1954 edition that went 2-12 was a good candidate, but no. It won its final game of the season, at home, against Montreal. The summary of that game is copied below. Sorry about the page breaks, I can't seem to avoid those.

In fact, the last time an Ottawa team did not win at home throughout an entire season was in...1934. They played only six games in those days and Ottawa won once, in Montreal.

Congratulations to the 2022 Redblacks for matching an "accomplishment" dating back to the year Don Cherry was born. 👏👏

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. 

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. 

June 28th, 1995: Winnipeg Blue Bombers 15 @ Ottawa Rough Riders 25

The Rough Riders won the first game of the 1995 season and, as was so often the case back then, things went downhill from there. Results from that season are being added this evening, so I thought that this rare sliver of competence and hope deserved a little attention.

Nov 23rd: Ottawa Rough Riders 08 @ Toronto Argonauts 01

The summary of the first contest in this two-game series for the 1940 IRFU (Big Four) title was posted earlier today.

Nov 16th, 1940: Toronto Argonauts 01 @ Ottawa Rough Riders 12

Continuing to gather the various teams' playoff successes, here we have the 1940 Rough Riders' first such victory in a two-game series against Toronto. The second game will be added shortly. 

The 1941 games were a better fit for the Rough Riders 1907 - 1942 page so I added them there directly rather than create a post for them. You can check that out at your leisure using the link bearing that exact name under the banner image.    

Oct 17th, 2022: "REDBLACKS sign American linebacker Jordan Young"

I'm using the press release title, but not the press release itself, because it's largely useless. All I'll copy from it are Young's standard basic info.

American linebacker Jordan Young

HEIGHT: 6-3 | WEIGHT: 230 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1998-18-02

HOMETOWN: Coatesville, PA | SCHOOL: Old Dominion 

Great. 

Now in order to actually know a little more about this young man, I'll refer to an article from the May 2nd, 2022, Daily Local News in which it was reported that Young had signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

A former Coatesville High School star quarterback has been signed as an undrafted free agent by the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a linebacker. Jordan Young, a 2015 Coatesville graduate who stands 6-foot-3, 230 pounds, has been rewarded for having a stellar college career at Old Dominion University with a contract with the Buccaneers.

Young left the Monarchs as the all-time leading tackler, and in 2021, his senior season, he started all 13 games at linebacker. Young had a team-high 104 stops in 2021 and that landed him in seventh place in Conference USA. Young also led the Monarchs with 7.5 tackles for loss and notched a pair of sacks. In his four seasons at ODU, Young had a school-best 350 tackles and five sacks along with 20.5 tackles for loss.

In his senior season at Coatesville in 2014 Young led the Red Raiders to the District 1 4A championship game. During his time as quarterback of the Raiders he completed 208 of 324 passes for 2,270 yards and 20 touchdowns. Young also rushed 147 times for 669 yards and 20 touchdowns and was selected to play in the Big 33 game his senior year.

Young is part of a storied football family as his father Anthony was drafted by the NFL Baltimore Colts after a star career at Temple University. Jordan Young also has two younger brothers, Avery and Aaron, who are currently playing their collegiate football at Rutgers University.

None of this is included in the press release. It only states that he's been signed by Ottawa.

Here are his stats with Old Dominion, copied from his bio on the school's athletics website.

Who knows, this guy may not work out here. He may never even show up for camp next year. It's been known to happen. 

But if I'm trying to promote a team that is performing poorly on the field to an annoyed fan base, maybe I use a guy that's notched 350 tackles in 49 games to show that I'm serious about trying to improve the product instead of treating a roster addition like an afterthought. It wouldn't have taken much effort.

Knowing this team, they'll put more effort in promoting their Hallowe'en theme night. 

Nov 5th, 1960: "Last-Quarter TDs Send Riders Into Finals"

The images that follow are from the November 7th, 1960, Ottawa Citizen summary of the playoff game between Ottawa and Montreal played here two days earlier and won by Ottawa 30-14. 

Oct 12th, 2022: REDBLACKS sign national DL Alain Cimankinda

OTTAWA - The Ottawa REDBLACKS have added national defensive lineman Alain Cimankinda to the club's practice roster, the team announced Wednesday. 

The Congo-born Gatineau resident was drafted in the fourth round of the 2021 CFL Draft by the Saskatchewan Roughriders and spent the 2021 season with the team. Released prior to this season, the Riders re-signed Cimankinda in time to play in their Week 7 matchup against Toronto.

National defensive lineman Alain Cimankinda

HEIGHT: 6-1 | WEIGHT: 280 lbs | BIRTHDAY: 1995-05-04
HOMETOWN: Democratic Republic of the Congo | SCHOOL: Guelph