Saints march to first COSSA title since 1969
Junior football team blanks Belleville’s Bayside Red Devils 29-0 in COSSA AAA football final
The St. Peter Saints did something Thursday that none of its football teams had ever done before in celebrating a COSSA championship on its field since the school opened in 1992 at the Hospital Drive location.
The junior Saints’ decisive 29-0 win over Belleville’s Bayside Red Devils in the COSSA AAA final is believed to be the school’s first regional football title since 1969, said team coaches.
“It’s been 49 years, that’s a pretty big deal,” said head coach Christian Vesnaver, one of several Peterborough Wolverines coaches to volunteer with the team.
“It’s just a great bunch of kids. And I’m happy for them. They’ve come together all season long and as it went along have come closer and closer together and really believed in each other. They wanted their chance at history and they wanted to write their story.”
“This means a lot. We’ve worked really hard to get here,” said running back Jamie Hubble, who recorded two touchdowns and a two-point convert for the Saints.
“To be honest, at the start of the year I never really thought we’d make it this far. Our whole team really didn’t think we’d make it this far.”
Hubble sees several factors in their success.
“I really think it’s been the coaches and we have some really great athletes on this team. Everyone really helped out this year. The coaches have taught us well.”
The Saints improved their record to 8-0-1 and will now enter the Metro Bowl playoffs. They’ll travel to face the LOSSA champion, either Oshawa’s Paul Dwyer or Courtice’s Holy Trinity, on Tuesday, Vesnaver said.
Saints quarterback Carson Harvey opened the scoring on a 40-yard outside run for a 6-0 lead four minutes into the first quarter.
Bayside was in decent field position when Ben Minion intercepted a pass on St. Peter’s 20-yard line to stall their drive. It’s the closest they got to scoring.
“The defence has gotten better every game,” Vesnaver said.
“The offence kept plugging along and got it done. They were playing for each other. If one side was letting down the other side stepped in and picked them up. They weren’t going to let each other down.”
Harvey kicked a single with 4:00 left in the second quarter to make it 7-0 after a pair of 30-yard runs by Hubble got them within striking distance.
Harvey struck again on a 20yard run with 2:20 left in the half and Hubble rumbled in for a two-point convert and 15-0 lead.
A 30-yard sweep by Hubble put the Saints in scoring position and Hubble pounced it in from two yards with 5:30 left in the third quarter. Harvey added another two point convert.
“The offence really pulled through in the second half and started to click,” Hubble said. “The defence worked really well and shut Bayside out. They got some really nice tackles.”
Hubble capped the scoring on a 40-yard run in the fourth quarter putting an exclamation point on the victory.
“We made a lot of mistakes and that made a huge difference,” said Bayside coach Paul Clair. “We couldn’t hold onto the ball and just weren’t very consistent In our attacking today. St. Peter’s had a very good game and played a lot more consistent than we did. From a defensive perspective (Hubble) killed us. He ran very well and we kept tackling him too high and they took advantage of that. Their defence played well. They stayed in their lanes and made the tackles.”