Eagles Top Trojans, Move to NOSSA Final-Photo Gallery

Aaron Lott of the West Ferris Trojans tackles James Castelloni of the Sir James Dunn Eagles. Photo by Matt Gordon.

The West Ferris Trojans lost 63-7 to the Sir James Dunn Eagles in the NOSSA Football semi-final at the Trojan Alumni Complex Tuesday afternoon. The loss ends a two-and-a-half week rollercoaster ride for the Trojans since defeating the Northern Braves in the NDA semi-final on October 24th.

During that time, the Trojans have had the flu go through their 30 man squad causing the NDA final to get pushed back twice. Once they did eventually play, it took a Trent Robinson field goal in overtime to clinch the win. Then the Trojans had one practice to get ready the well rested 40 man roster of the Eagles who had been off since October 31st. Add to that, the switch to four down football and West Ferris was in tough against the Soo champions.

However, Trojan head coach Larry Tougas did not use any of their tribulations as an excuse and instead pointed to a talented Eagles squad as the reason for the lob sided score.

“Size was a big factor today, we just couldn’t match that size,” said Tougas, “It’s pretty hard when big men are running counter treys; I felt like we were playing the Washington Redskins of the 1980’s,” added the bench boss.

Tougas also pointed out that the Eagles seldom used air attack was also extremely potent as quarterback Mike Campbell threw 4 touchdowns on the afternoon.

It was Campbell that got things started for the Eagles with a 7 yard touchdown run at 5:33 of the first quarter. The Eagles set up that score by blocking a punt after the Trojans went three and out on their first possession.

Sir James Dunn got excellent field position again on their second possession after a good punt return to the West Ferris 20 yard line by Iain Hutchison. On the very next play Campbell hooked up with wide receiver Aaron Robinson in the back corner of the end-zone to put the visitors up by two scores.

Robinson added the extra point on the first 7 Eagle touchdowns before being relieved by Drake Kinnunen who added the extra on the last two majors.

The Eagles pushed their lead to 21-0 early in the second as running back Jordan Vernelli caught a pass in the back field from Campbell and took it 30 yards into the end-zone.

West Ferris showed signs of life shortly thereafter when quarterback Spencer Brear hooked up with receiver Steve Bertram on a 35 yard touchdown pass. The play was very similar to a long pass that the same two hooked up on in the NDA final.

However, after the ensuing on-side kick off attempt failed for the home squad, the Eagles marched the ball and scored once again. This time on a four play drive capped by another Campbell to Robinson touchdown pass making the score 28-7.

Campbell topped off his 5 touchdown half by hooking up with receiver Todd Wagner with just over a minute to go in the half on a 25 yard score. With the score now 35-7 the half ended on a fitting note as the Eagles blocked a 42 yard field goal attempt by Trent Robinson.

Trojan running back Brad Piper said after the game that he could tell that the Eagles had more experience then him and his teammates.

“They’ve been brought up on football; kids around here have only played for a few years,” said the big fullback. “You can definitely tell they play a high level of football,” added the grade 12 student.

In the second half the running back duo of Vernelli and Jimmy Castellani took turns pounding the rock as the Eagles attempted to run out the clock. They each had 2 touchdowns in the half to round out the scoring.

The run heavy attack in the second half held the Trojans to 4 short possessions. The Eagles defence kept a West Ferris offence that scored over 200 points in eight regular season games to that single first half touchdown. Brear was intercepted on the last play of the third quarter on the only real scoring opportunity.

Sir James Dunn’s offence was extremely efficient on the afternoon scoring touchdowns on all 9 possessions they had in the game.

Head coach Tom Annett was exceptionally happy with his team’s performance and pointed to the teams experience as major factor in the win.

“I think they played very well; we have a lot of veterans, a lot of leaders on this team that stepped up today,” boasted Annett. “A lot of the guys have been playing together for a long time and they are really peaking at the right time of the year,” noted the coach of his squad.

Sir James Dunn will now host the Sudbury champion; College Notre-Dame Alouettes in Sault Ste. Marie next weekend for the NOSSA banner. The winner of that game advances to the Northern Bowl at Rogers Center in Toronto on November 25th.

After the game Tougas said that despite the disappointing end to their season, his team should not hang their heads.

“The kids played as hard as they could under the circumstances,” said Tougas, “I am proud of them and I am proud of the season we had,” added the coach.