The Sir James Dunn Eagles have proven to have the heart of a champion.
After falling behind early, the Eagles clawed their way back for a thrilling 30-28 win over North Bay's West Ferris Trojans on Saturday afternoon at Rocky DiPietro Field to claim the M.J. Poupore Rugby Trophy as Northern Ontario Secondary Schools Association (NOSSA) champions.
The Eagles will now advance into next Saturday's Central Bowl championship at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo against the winner of the Georgian Bay Secondary Schools Association champion.
Despite the loss, the Trojans also gain a trip to Laurier next Saturday with the Eagles to take on a Thunder Bay opponent in the inaugural Northern Bowl.
In the thrilling NOSSA final, the Eagles were forced to rally after falling behind 21-3 in the second quarter. After climbing back to within five, the Trojans again built a sizable 28-16 lead late in the third quarter.
Peter McGonegal capped the comeback for the Eagles with a game winning one yard touchdown run with 2:17 remaining.
"There is no quit in these guys," said head coach Tom Keenan, in his first season at the helm of the senior Eagles. "They are a quality group of kids who believe in themselves and come to play every game."
In what has been a trademark this season, the Eagles started slow but continued to get better as the game wore on while relying on their tough defense.
"We knew we had some momentum going in the second half. We never really played well in the first half all year but we've always played well in the second half. It's almost like the kids expect that come second half they will take over and they did it again," said Keenan.
Matt Irving gave the Eagles a 3-0 lead 6:28 into the first quarter with a 14 yard field goal after Adam Elliot recovered a fumble on the Trojans first play from scrimmage.
West Ferris then kicked their offense into high gear as running back Scott Strang scored on a one yard plunge before adding another point on a missed field goal to take an 8-3 lead after one quarter.
After quarterback Dan Weber, who completed his first five passes for 87 yards, hit speedy wideout John Gore with a 33 yard pass, Strang put the Trojans ahead 15-3 with another one yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Strang then scored his third major of the game 8:28 into the quarter for a 21-3 lead after a missed two-point convert attempt.
Kofi Osei cut the lead to 21-10 at the half with a 17 yard touchdown run late in the second frame.
Nigel Milne opened the second half scoring with a 47 yard touchdown run to close the gap to 21-16 after a missed two-point convert.
Late in the third quarter, Strang scored his fourth touchdown on a five yard run for a 28-16 lead.
Cue the comeback.
Navarre Cellini started the rally with a nifty 65 yard catch and run touchdown from quarterback Frank Weise to pull the Eagles to within five at 28-23 and setup McGonegal's game winning score.
"It is hard to pinpoint (a turning point in the game)," said Keenan. "It's even just the kids on the sidelines. We fumbled a couple of times and made a few mistakes and a kid might get down but there is somebody there on the sidelines to pick them back up.
"We embodied the team concept so well that even when we were down we weren't really down because we have guys looking for positives and keeping each other up."
West Ferris, perhaps sensing an Eagles comeback, took two dangerous fourth down gambles while playing with the lead in the final quarter in order to maintain control on offense.
With 10:15 remaining in the game, the Trojans gambled and were successful on a fourth down and one yard to go play on their own 16 yard line. Later in the same drive, the Trojans converted on a fourth and long with a 15 yard pass completion.
The Eagles eventually snuffed the Trojans time consuming drive and Matt Irving setup the game winning drive with a huge 38 yard punt return.
The Trojans kept things interesting following McGonegal's major with a 48 yard kickoff return by Gore.
But the Eagles defense stood stall and held the Trojans in check before turning the ball back over to their offense to run out the clock and end another classic NOSSA championship.
"We got what we expected from (West Ferris) today," added Keenan. "We knew that their quarterback and (Gore) were two guys we had to watch and they picked us apart at times. They have some fantastic athletes over there and they definitely came ready to play."
Milne paced the Eagles offense, which gained 271 yards rushing, with 114 yards on nine carries. Osei added 83 yards on 14 carries while McGonegal gained 67 yards on 18 attempts. Weise completed three of six passes for 78 yards.
Defensive leader Mike Beharriell led the Eagles with 12 tackles while Weise added nine. Safety D.J. Idehen made five tackles, half a sack and batted two balls out of the hands of receivers. Andrew Pothier and Jeff Dewar each recorded a sack while Alex Lemay added five tackles.
Strang rushed for 101 yards on 32 carries for the Trojans while Weber scrambled for 86 yards on nine attempts. Weber completed 11 of 21 passes for 127 yards including four strikes to Gore for 83 yards. Gore also ran back three punts for 107 yards.
Andrew Mader led the Trojans defense with 8.5 tackles while Alex Dicht and Jim McIntyre made seven each. Mader and Brian Guy each recovered a fumble and McIntyre recorded an interception.
*** ADDITIONAL PHOTOS:
An extra 38 photos of the game can be found by accessing the Student's Domain link found on the left of this page.