Toronto West 22, Mt. Olive 19
Super Sunday victory puts the Saints back on top; East wins Redemption Bowl
T-West is once again atop the church flag football world – thanks to a business-like beating of the defending champions from Mt. Olive at Northview, Aug. 27.
The Toronto West Saints beat Mt. Olive Triumph 22-19 in Super Sunday II, ending the Triumph’s two-year reign. The win was the Saints’ third title in six years, and put them back on top of the mound for the first time since losing their perfect season to Apple Creek on the last play of the championship game in 2014.
Mt. Olive Triumph are vowing to be back next year. But if you want evidence of how tough it is to win, look at T-West. They dominated the league in 2012 and 2013, winning back-to-back championships. Then, in 2014, they won every game and were poised for the Three-peat when Apple Creek staged a furious comeback and won on the last play of the game to take the title. T-West has not been close to the title since then, failing to reach the finals for two straight years.
“There are so many ways to lose, and only one way to win,” said captain Sheldon James. “You need an entire team. Everybody has to buy in. Our guys and girls stuck together.”
In the consolation final, Toronto East beat Kanisa in an exciting game between evenly-matched teams, 23-22. See story below for details.
This was the first season T-West played without a girl QB (Sasha Rampersad) and it took them several games to find the rhythm with recruit Jay Steinberg, a veteran lefty who’d retired from competitive football.
Steinberg was still adjusting to co-ed football right to the end, but had enough moxie and veteran presence to lead the Saints to a 7-1 regular season record (the only loss was to Agape Avengers) and the win on Sunday.
Steinberg ran for two scores and tossed one to Sheldon James. Sheldon got a second score on a pitch from brother, Darnell, plus a convert. But it was Darnell who grabbed the Precision Laboratories MVP trophy with back-breaking catches deep in the Mt. Olive secondary.
For Mt. Olive, QB Karl Brown, Craig Farrier and Nick Deslandes scored touchdowns, with converts to Germaine Clark and Farrier. But the dream of a three-peat petered out in the second half as they couldn’t contain the heavy dose of the James Brothers.
Mt. Olive’s offensive game plan was what the league has come to expect: methodical, probing drives with safe plays and no turnovers. By half-time they had a 12-10 lead, but would not score again until near the end when they trailed by 10 points.
Their challenge was how to stop the Saints’ offence. You must provide special coverage against their trio of elite girls (Sherri Pierce who won the league top female player in 2017), Alysha Emerson, and Keisha Alexander (top female offensive player of 2016). Fail to cover speedy newcomer Dan George and it’s over quick. And, the third option is the James Brothers, perennial all-stars who are among the league’s elite players.
“Defensively, we wanted to shrink the window for T-West players. Force them to make plays with pressure. Take away their girl players, and force T-West into going to their 3rd or 4th options,” Brown explained afterwards.
Mt. Olive chose to cover Pierce with a guy; Brown marked George all across the field and left it to Farrier and Ezekiel Marksman to handle the James Boys. It was Olive’s best option but it led to a slow death as Sheldon and Darnell, in particular, gashed the Triumph’s secondary for crucial third-down gains.
And when Steinberg went to Alexander, her yards-after-catch punctured the Olive defence.
With the game still hanging in the balance, a second-half sequence on offence showed how much Mt. Olive missed their female outstanding player of 2016 Petagaye McIntosh, off on mat leave. Brown tagged the series as the game’s turning point and explains:
“Second half, T-West gets the ball and marches down the field to take a 5 point lead. We come right back and march down to their 30 yard line and hit a snag. The rule change on the girl toss comes into play. We end up getting flagged on back-to-back plays pushing us backwards 10 yards. Not being able to recover from that drive turned the game.”
McIntosh is a master at running that option play. Her absence, plus a rule change that now prevents a girl QB from simply flipping the ball to a guy and have it count as a girl play, tripped up the Triumph. Their mighty two-year run was over.
Consider what Mt. Olive has achieved, a small team with a small roster.
In 2014 Karl Brown was playing for Toronto West as they ran roughshod over the league, only to lose in the championship. Brown returned to Mt. Olive for 2015 and they won the title, upsetting the favourite Agape Avengers.
Not only did they repeat in 2016, but the Triumph did so with a perfect, unbeaten season, going 11-0 for back-to-back titles.
The only motivation for 2017 was the historic three straight titles, a feat basketball’s Pat Riley coined as a “three-peat.” Olive suffered early hangover from last year’s greatness but recovered to run through Mississauga and Woodbridge in the Western playoffs and set up the matchup with nemesis T-West.
Brown was gracious in defeat.
“They capitalized on their chances in the second half, and hung on. They made timely plays when they needed them. Congrats to the team and Church members. Job well done.”
As strange as it may seem for a team that has been in the championship game four of the six years in the church league, T-West flew under the radar in 2017. They volunteered to move to the Eastern Conference because the west had seven other teams compared to five in the east.
The Saints weren’t blowing out teams, the offence sputtered, and the roster was rarely consistent as key players missed key games. Still, with just one loss to Agape, and wins over Olive, Philly, Hamilton, East and Woodbridge, the potential was obviously there.
Then the playoffs started and it came together.
“It seemed like we could never get our full roster out for a game this year — until the playoffs which is where we were able to showcase our various weapons,” said Darnell James.
“Adding veteran players like Dan George, Jay Steinberg, Leon Perry along with youthful injections of Jauron Robinson and Tyffany Ambrose was what helped our roster become the deepest.”
On any given day the Saints can blind you with speed, shock you with girl power or befuddle you with veteran guile.
“We made plays when we needed them,” said Steinberg. “There was not one or two people, it was a total team effort that got this win.”
Have the Saints peaked, leaving the door open for other teams in the league to step in?
“This is our first year with Jay at QB,” said Darnell. “We will only improve our chemistry moving forward.”
“You always build to get better,” said Steinberg, who was impressed by the talent and organization of the league.
Hail to the champions:
Keisha Alexander, Tyffany Ambrose, Stefan Bruggemann, Alysha Emerson, Dan George, Chris Gordon, LeeAnn Gordon, Cleon Holmes, Avalon James, Darnell James, Royson James, Sheldon James, Jermaine Jarvis, Dennis Langley, Basil Linton, Abi Marshall, David McLennon, Roshaun Nunes, Leon Perry, Sherri Pierce, Leanne Prendergast, Jauron Robinson, Sandy Senior, Jay Steinberg.
Commissioner Frankie Lazarus is to deliver the trophy to the Toronto West Church on Sept. 9.