Author: NFCadmin

Bittersweet end to Spartans season

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Original article: http://www.thesudburystar.com/2018/07/29/bittersweet-end-to-spartans-season

By Ben Leeson, Sudbury Star

Hunter Holub could have found reasons to hang his head Saturday night.

His Sudbury Spartans had just dropped a heartbreaker 21-14 decision to the Ottawa Sooners in their Northern Football Conference quarter-final, in a game the Nickel City squad may have won, if not for a dropped TD, a pair of missed field goals and a late fumble.

But Holub’s gaze was straight ahead, to what he hopes will be an even brighter future for semi-pro football in Sudbury.

“It’s sort of bittersweet,” Holub said. “We didn’t play that well in the first half and we know we can play well, we know we can compete with the good teams like Ottawa. They went 5-3 this year and they were ranked like third in the league, they’re a very good team, so to come out and almost have a comeback, even with the mistakes we made, seeing how we can play and finishing off a game like that, I think it’s good.”

Holub threw a touchdown pass to Justin Poirier and ran for a TD of his own Saturday night to cap a strong rookie season. He’s already looking forward to his sophomore campaign.

“I plan to keep playing,” he said. “Looking at these older guys, Matt Furino, Red (Erik Conrad), Whitey (Kevin White), they have a great bond with each other and with the team and they’re encouraging all the young people to come out, so I plan to play in the future, and hopefully, more people do, too.”

Hosting a playoff game for the first time since 2015, the Spartans had a slow start against the Sooners, who were missing a couple of strong starters, but remained a quality club on both sides of the ball.

They showed that when quarterback Danny Mullins led a long first-quarter drive and finished with a short keeper for a TD. The ensuing convert made it 7-0.

Ottawa’s offence sputtered deep in its own end near the midway mark of the second frame, however, allowing Sudbury to take over at the visitors’ 34-yard line. A 14-yard catch and run by Josh Cuomo put the locals inside the 20, where they came within a hair of scoring a major of their own when Holub found James Howatt open in the end zone, but Howatt couldn’t quite hold onto the pass.

Spartans kicker Massimo Cimino then attempted a field goal, but booted it just wide.

Sudbury’s defence stymied Ottawa on another drive down the field, sacking Mullins to end the half.

Holub had just missed Poirier with a long pass when the first-year quarterback aired it out for No. 20 again, this time connecting for a 87-yard score and bringing the crowd to its feet. Cimino’s PAT tied the score, 7-7, with 7:50 left in the third quarter.

The Spartans missed on another field goal attempt later in the third.

Ottawa restored its lead won Daniel McGrowder’s eight-yard reception in the fourth quarter, then scored again on an option pitch to Mike Leno.

The Spartans embarked on a strong drive late in the contest that culminated in Holub’s wild scramble for a 21-yard TD, narrowing the score to 21-14, but could come no closer.

“Losing is never a positive thing,” Spartans head coach Junior Labrosse said. “But the thing you can take out of this loss, as a coach, is the fact the guys didn’t give up. They scored, but we hung in there. Offence had to do certain things, we had trouble moving the ball, but some adjustments were made.”

Early on, he saw the same signs of panic that marked the Spartans’ early games this season, but the players “snapped out of it.”

“As coaches, that’s what you want. Play the game, don’t just say we can’t do this or can’t do that – eventually, it will happen, and if we can’t do that, we’ll do something else, and in the second half, we hit Justin on that big one.

“Ottawa came to play, but we missed a touchdown in the end zone, two field goals, and that’s the game. In my mind, we won that game, but on paper, on record, it doesn’t show. Howatt makes that catch, Massimo hits those field goals, and we win it. And this is a strong Ottawa team, coming from a community where they have a strong football background. We showed them that guys up north, and hopefully, a lot of fans or young players who are out there wondering, is this league garbage, as has been spread around for a long time, it’s a beer league, it’s a bunch of old guys, it’s all of this, maybe there have been some eyes opened, going, wow, there’s some good football here.”

The season was certainly an eye-opener for Holub, who was out of the game for three years after a successful run with the Lively Hawks high school team and Sudbury Gladiators varsity squad, before signing with the Spartans this past spring.

By Saturday, he was playing with noticeable confidence and plenty of poise.

“I knew at the start, I would be a bit rusty, after never playing and not throwing a ball in years competitively, and I knew there would be kinks to work out,” Holub said. “I think it was the Sault game, when we played there about halfway through the season, that was when I felt like this is who I am, this is what I’m going to be. Ever since then, it has gone uphill and I feel like I have finished on a peak.”

Like Holub, Labrosse’s mind was already turning to next season.

“Now, things are going to start again, go back to the drawing board,” Sudbury’s coach said. “What do we need to tweak? What do we need to adjust? The biggest thing is we need more players.”

While pleased with several of the changes since Dario Zulich and Sudbury Wolves Sports and Entertainment took ownership of the team last year, Labrosse hopes to have even more resources for recruiting in his bid to build an NFC contender.

“This isn’t hockey, where a body check might be thrown once every three shifts. These guys hit every play, so injuries happen. It doesn’t seem, numbers-wise, like it’s a long season, but it takes its toll. Football is a game where you hit every play, every practice, so we need more bodies. You never have enough. It happened tonight – we lost a lineman, then we were down to just five and you’re crossing your fingers as a coach going, I hope nobody else gets hurt.”

He hopes the positive experiences of newcomers like Holub and Matt Glass will also help in recruiting efforts.

“If I can keep this roster, but add to it, then look out, NFC.”

bleeson@postmedia.com

Twitter: @ben_leeson

Spartans’ Costello relishes game-day experience

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Original article: http://www.thesudburystar.com/2018/07/27/spartans-costello-relishes-game-day-experience

By Ben Leeson, Sudbury Star

Sudbury GM sees bright future for organization

Bill Costello’s father, the late Gary (Satch) Costello, had him well prepared for a life on the sideline with the Sudbury Spartans.

“My dad told me, ‘You’re always the first one to arrive and you’re always the last one to leave,’ ” Costello recalled. “And it’s so true.”

That goes for not only Costello, the general manager and head trainer for the local Northern Football Conference outfit, but also the likes of equipment manager Mike Lynott, trainer Al Kuzenko, water boy Alex Dodds, as well as youngsters who may rotate in and out depending on availability, but whose contributions remain vital to making game day at James Jerome Sports Complex a success.

All volunteers, they’ll be working hard as ever when the Spartans kick off the NFC post-season Saturday against the Ottawa Sooners.

Game time is 7:30 p.m.

“The staff I have are actually amazing, that they are able to do what they do,” Costello said. “It’s a lot of little tasks to be able to take care of the big event.

“All of them make sure that these guys look and feel like they’re prepared for a game. There’s a lot of time that goes in before and after the game, from taping ankles to washing uniforms a couple of days after the game.”

As much as he trusts his staff, and full as his plate may be, Costello has yet to step back and embrace a more strictly managerial role. That may happen eventually, but for now, he enjoys being immersed in the game-day experience.

“It’s kind of a tough one,” he said. “I absolutely love the game days. It’s being able to find the right type of people to surround myself with, but I would love to be able to do a little bit less. Junior (Labrosse, head coach), Wally (Wilson, special teams/offensive line coach) and Gord (Goddard, president) are actually always pushing me to do a bit less every year and you know what, sometimes the grandiose plan is to get a fully-fledged training staff and everything, but i like to lead from the front, lead by example, and I’m not willing to get someone else to do something unless I’m willing to do it myself. That’s not to say I wouldn’t give up a lot of this stuff, but hopefully each year, I can manage a little bit more and do a little bit less, not have to tape at the games, but kind of sit back and schmooze a little bit with the fans, see all my alumni that have actually come out to the games. The future’s a little bit brighter for me, with all of the stuff that has happened the last few years, and I think it will be good for the next few years.”

Among the most significant changes has been the purchase of the Spartans by local businessman Dario Zulich in spring of 2017 and their incorporation into Sudbury Wolves Sports and Entertainment, alongside the Sudbury Wolves hockey club and Sudbury Five basketball team.

Both of the sister squads will be well-represented at Saturday’s playoff game, as sponsors for the event.

Activities are to include fan giveaways, an appearance by the Sudbury Five Dance Squad and a performance by local musician Dan MacDonald.

The Dellelce Family Hospitality Tent will be open before and during the game.

“All year, it has been building to this,” Costello said. “We had our home opener and the beer tent came along, we had some SPAD (Laurentian University sports administration) students who were able to come and help out, otherwise, we wouldn’t have been able to do some of this stuff. As a solo organization, we weren’t able to do that in the past, and now, we’re actually part of a bigger organization, there’s a lot more back-room support for these types of things.

“They will feed one another. Hopefully, my players and my staff can actually go down to a Five game and maybe volunteer to do some security or some public relations stuff. There’s a little bit of give and take with that, but overall, the organization has been absolutely amazing and patient, because football is very different from hockey and basketball is very different from football. We are like a family, because a lot of the organization involves friends and families, but now the public is getting on board and seeing that it actually is quality football, and having that promotional end of it, to actually market and promote it, from the Sudbury Wolves, I couldn’t ask for anything better.”

bleeson@postmedia.com

Twitter: @ben_leeson

Steelers forfeit playoff game

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Original article: http://www.saultstar.com/2018/07/26/steelers-forfeit-playoff-game

By Peter Ruicci, Sault Star

Though scheduled for a playoff game on Saturday, the Sault Steelers season is over.

Due to a lack of players, the Northern Football Conference club has elected to forfeit its postseason clash against the GTA All Stars.

The teams were to meet in an NFC quarter-final at Chinguacousy Park in Brampton.

But the Steelers, who didn’t have enough players to play the second half of last Saturday’s 35-0 loss in Sarnia, were certain even fewer would be available for a clash with the 8-0 All Stars.

“I’m sad about it. It wasn’t easy for us to forfeit,” said Steelers head coach Brandon Lewis. “It was an emotional decision to make.”

The Steelers, who finished with a 3-5 record, began their regular season finale against Sarnia with only 17 players.

However, Lewis said that during the first half they lost Jon Bujold (knee), Cam Basham (knee), Andrew Jones (back) and Rico Pucci (knee).

The Steelers concern for the well-being of their remaining 13 players – the majority of whom would have been forced to go both ways — led game officials to halt the contest before the third quarter was to begin.

Asked how many players the Steelers expected to dress if they were to face GTA, Lewis said he “couldn’t put a number on it. Easily less than the 17 we went to Sarnia with.”

The 42-year-old coach, a former star defensive lineman and a sure bet, future, NFC Hall-of-Famer, spoke of how disappointed he was.

“But our hand was forced,” Lewis added. “Forfeiting was not easy. But first and foremost, this is about the safety of our players. These guys have battled short-handed for us all season.”

Steelers quarterback Alanzo Clarke said the remaining Soo players are also disappointed.

“But it’s probably the best call,” he added. “We have a lot of guys injured and we didn’t want to risk anyone else getting hurt.”

This season marked the return of the Steelers to the NFC. Due to a lack of player interest, the team asked the league for a one-year leave of absence and didn’t field an entry in 2017.

Despite the way things are ending, Lewis called 2018 a positive.

“We played some tough games that could have gone either way,” he said. “And we managed to win three games.”

Lewis said he plans to return as the team’s head coach in 2019.

Asked if he would also consider a return to the playing field, Lewis said: “That’s not in the cards right now. I just want to focus on recruiting and building the program.”

AllStars end Patriots’ undefeated season in finale

Please like and share the original story to help local media with their coverage of NFC teams and events. Original article: http://www.hamilton-today.com/sports/allstars-end-patriots-undefeated-season-in-finale/

Author: Jason Nason

Last Saturday night The 2018 Northern football Conference regular season came to a conclusion with a full slate of games which will be recapped at the end of this article. The marquee game of the week featured The 2017 National Champion GTA All Stars (7-0) vs The SCP Patriots (7-0). This was a game that was circled on the calendar of the players of both teams due to their fierce rivalry since The Pats joined the league.

The game was played on an overcast night in front of a huge raucous crowd that was looking for SCP to end the winning streak of The All Stars and clinch first place overall in the playoffs. The game did not go as planned or The home squad as they gave up 135 yds on 16 penalties and The GTA team capitalized to take an early lead which they did not give up in spite of their 250 yds in penalties.

The bright spot was Donovan Saunders who took an errant GTA pass back for a 109 yd pick six, the 10th one of the year for SCP. But in spite of an epic effort by all the players it was not to be as The Pats were downed 41-7.

Next up for SCP is a home playoff date against The Tri City Outlaws who come to town looking for revenge after they were defeated 21-7 week 6. The Patriots will be looking to go back to our winning ways after being defeated in the season finale last week. Tickets are just $10 and we will have our BBQ and Apparel available as well as The Steel City Steel “hers” who will perform at halftime. Let’s fill the stands and rock our house.

Source: Sam MacBeath

Power Rankings 2018 – Week 8

NFC Week 8 Power Rankings

1. GTA All Stars
2. Sarnia Imperials
3. Steel City Patriots
4. Ottawa Invaders
5. Sudbury Spartans
6. Tri City Outlaws
7. Toronto Phantom Raiders
8. Sault Steelers
9. Oakville Longhorns
10. North Bay Bulldogs

NFC Power Ranking Breakdown

1. GTA All Stars
Current record 7-0

GTA isn’t just winning games but absolutely destroying opponents.
Expect more of the same this week – except this time you play a team that has called you out all season long.
……………………………………………………………

2. Sarnia Imperials
Current record 5-2

Sarnia is also dominating opponents as opposed to close wins. For the 5th week in a row, they have improved their on-field play. Their offense is getting stronger each week – they are a real contender.
…………………………………………………………..

3. Steel City Patriots
Current record 7-0

Another win and this time against a stronger opponent. A win is a win and a well-deserved move up the power rankings. Big week coming up for this program. You’ve been chomping at the bit to play GTA All season long – now is your chance.

……………………………………………………………

4. Ottawa Sooners
Current record 4-3

Sloppy play and turnovers defined your last game. You want to be on fire going into the postseason… can’t blame it on injuries or anything else – every team has those same circumstances. Time to get it together.

…………………………………………………………….

5. Sudbury Spartans
Current record 3-4

The Spartans are playing decent ball going into playoffs. The offense is rolling hard and the defense is playing tough. Keep this up – and you have some momentum.
………………………………………………………….

6. Tri City Outlaws
Current record 3-4

Two tough losses in a row. Defense is playing tough while the offense is still trying to find its identity. I wouldn’t count this team out – but definitely a dark horse going into playoffs.

………………………………………………………….

7. Toronto Phantom Raiders
Current record 3-4

A blowout loss to GTA isn’t the end of the world. A promising season for the Raiders and another week to get to .500 on the year. Going to be a good game this week.

…………………………………………………………….

8. Sault Steelers
Current record 3-4

No matter how you evaluate the season – the Steelers return has been successful. You got the program back up and running and you won some games – kudos to you.

………………………………………………………….

9. Oakville Longhorns
Current record 0-7

This team is taking blows on and off the field BUT they still show up to play each weekend. Give yourselves a pat on the back for getting thru this trying season.

………………………………………………………….

10. North Bay Bulldogs
Current record 0-7

Keep your heads up – you’ve done yourselves proud. Each and every week you have taken the field and given your all. If this young group can stick together for a few seasons – they will be a force to be reckoned with.