By Jim Stewart
History was made by the Robert F. Hall CSS Wolfpack on Thursday afternoon on its home turf in East Caledon.
With an impressive 17-0 win over Brampton's Suzuki SS Grizzly Bears, Hall hoisted its first ROPSSAA Tier 1 Senior Football championship trophy in an all-day rain and under metallic skies.
The emphatic home field victory was particularly sweet for the Wolfpack after falling short in the last two Peel Region championship games.
The Wolfpack lost 22-12 in the 2024 title game to the St. Roch CSS Ravens. In 2023, Hall was edged 12-7 by St. Roch.
The powerhouse Ravens from Brampton had won the ROPSSAA Tier 1 Senior Football title four years in a row before Hall ended the four-peat on their saturated home turf on Thursday versus Suzuki.
The pennant-winning Wolfpack led the second-place Grizzly Bears 3-0 at half-time on a 25-yard field goal by placekicker Eric Rizzardo in miserable rainy and cold late-October conditions.
Wolfpack Head Coach Jonathan Beresford complimented Rizzardo's calmness under pressure.
“Eric is very level-headed. He's a soccer player, and we were able to convince his mom that Eric would be a valuable player on our football team.”
Rizzardo's field goal in the mucky conditions and his two converts in the second half provided all the points needed as the Wolfpack defence shut down Suzuki's offence.
Hall took control of the game in the third quarter. On the first drive of the second half, wide receiver Lucas Maklim's 50-yard-reception-and-run play bumped the Wolfpack's lead to 9-0. The dependable Rizzardo kicked the convert to give the home side a ten-point margin heading into the final quarter of play.
After establishing the inside run game in the second half on the strength of Lucas Carson-Petry's skillful and powerful rushing, the Wolfpack set up a perfect jet sweep with speedy Kymani Stanley carrying the ball 15 yards into the end zone to seal the deal at the start of the fourth quarter.
A Rizzardo convert provided the 17-point margin of victory and wrapped up Hall's historical football championship.
In the muck and mire of an all-day rain, Coach Beresford delineated the keys to victory: “Much of it was learning from last year—we played in sideways rain in our loss to Roch. This year, we embraced the rain. We practiced in the rain instead of taking those afternoons off and we developed fortitude in the rain. Our defense was really tough, too, and we stayed away from undisciplined penalties that hurt is our season-opening loss to Roch.”
Hall's Pathway to Glory: Ending St. Roch Ravens' stranglehold on the ROPSSAA Football title
After losing their season opener 20-16 to the four-time defending champion Ravens on September 19 in Brampton, the Wolfpack recalibrated, bounced back from the disappointing Game 1 result, and ran the table with four consecutive wins. Coach Beresford felt that the final score of the Wolfpack's first game was not indicative of his team's play.
“We were the better team, but we took some ‘bad discipline penalties' in Game 1, including roughing the passer and penalities after the whistle—the kind of penalties that really hurt the team.”
Hall evened its record at 1-1 by defeating Suzuki 31-26 on September 26, and then played a much more disciplined game by shutting out the Ravens 10-0 on October 9.
The victory over Roch marked a turning point in the Wolfpack season, as Coach Beresford explained.
“We played a clean game. No free first downs. No extra yardage due to penalties. Our defense really turned it up, too. The defense only gave up six points for the rest of the season.”
With a disciplined and talented defense in place, the Wolfpack subdued the Grizzly Bears 14-6 to wrap up the regular season with a 3-1 first-place record.
Hall completed its four-game heater by shutting out Suzuki SS 17-0 on home turf and captured the East Caledon high school's first Tier 1 Senior Football title in convincing fashion.
Wolfpack prowls for more championships
Coach Beresford's championship squad continues its quest for greater glory at the Metro Bowl playdowns.
On November 5, the 905 Bowl will feature the Winner of Durham Region versus the winner of Dufferin-Peel (Hall). The winner of the Durham versus Peel game will play the winner of the Toronto Public/Toronto Catholic game for the Metro Bowl championship.
The winner of the Metro Bowl advances to OFSAA at the University of Guelph on November 25, 26, and 27.
Coach Beresford discussed the value of the OFSAA Football championship: “Every school is there to watch our players – giving athletic scholarships for US and Canadian schools to the players competing in the provincial championships.”
“All the best players in Ontario are there to be seen by university representatives. It's a great opportunity for our players to be showcased and recruited by scouts and coaches.”
It's evident that Coach Beresford saw the potential of his 2025 squad in training camp because he arranged his first exhibition game to be played in Toronto to give his Wolfpack players a sneak preview of the Metro Bowl.
“Our first preseason game was against Toronto Northern at Varsity Stadium and we beat them. Our team got a chance to play a Toronto team where the Metro Bowl is going to be played. They got used to the long bus ride down to Varsity and are familiar with the field and the competition. We'll be ready to compete at Varsity Stadium. We'll be trying to sustain our success and this Grade 12 team is the product of the hard work Coach Jason Sweeney has put into our Junior Football program.
“This senior group is the fruits of our collective labour. Our players have played junior football games in Grades 9 and 10. It's been so much better for them to have more actual playing time rather than being Grade 9 and 10 players riding the bench on a Varsity team. We'll see how our program is matching up against the best programs in the GTA and across Ontario during the next few weeks.”
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