Metro Bowl

1983

Date: Sunday, November 20th

Venue: St. Michaels College, Toronto

Woburn Wildcats defeated East York Goliaths

Championship Game

Woburn Wildcats 21, East York Goliaths 14

The Scarborough Mirror published the following report by John Wilkinson on November 23rd:

It was a determined pack of Woburn Wildcats who met the East York Goliaths in the Metro Bowl Sunday at St. Michael's College Stadium.

They could have played two down football and the Wildcats probably would still have won.  As it was the Scarborough and East York Champions player Goliath's game, three down style, and Woburn took a 21-14 victory to claim the Metro Toronto High School Gridiron title.

Controversy surrounded the game for more than a week when Goliath's coach Steve Szewczyk refused a compromise proposal by Woburn coach Jim Henderson to play half the game under Scarborough's four down system and the other half using the three down format.

When neither Head Coach would back down, the Wildcat players decided the issue by voting in a team meeting to take on the Goliath's anyway.  From that point on the Wildcats were sky-high.

"The kids really wanted this badly," said an elated Henderson after the game.  "They would not be denied".

It appeared as if they would be denied when the Goliaths put together their best and only prolonged march of the day midway through the fourth quarter.  But a stubborn and talented Wildcat defensive crew halted the drive and forced a field goal attempt from the Woburn 17, which was blocked by defensive end Sam Lindo.  Linebacker Ken Noakes picked up the loose ball and galloped back to the Goliath's thirty before being hauled down.

Wildcats score the game-winning touchdown two plays later when Ian Press blasted off tackle from nine yards out and Quarterback Ken Hutton kicked the convert.

It was the second sparkling play for Noakes in the game.  In the first quarter, a high snap in an East York punting situation became a juggling act for about five players.  Kicker Norm Tsolakis couldn't handle the ball, a teammate fumbled it, another deflected it and finally tackle Adam Kollar tipped it to Noakes, who raced unmolested into the end zone.

"There really wasn't much to that," said the modest Noakes.  "I was in full flight when Adam got his hand on it and I caught it.  And I know Matt Eno made a good block behind me."

"And I got a good bounce and just ran for my life after Sam blocked that field goal.  I just ran out of gas after all the zig-zagging."

Those two played helped the Woburn cause, while Andrew Thomas, a lightning-quick receiver and punt returner for East York kept his team in the game.  Thomas, taking advantage of less-than-adequate punt coverage by the Wildcats streaked 100 yards for a major on one return and dashed 85 yards for another to tie the game at 14-14 in the third quarter.

With those returns, punter George Kakeletris was forced to neutralize that threat by kicking out of bounds for the duration.

In the last minute of the game, Goliaths threatened to tie the game when they partially blocked a Kakeletris punt and took over at the Woburn 43 yard line.  Quarterback Tony Iantoro's 41 yard pass to Tsolakis had the Goliaths with one play remaining at the Woburn two, but an errant pitch out on an option play was recovered by the Wildcats to end the threat.

After Noakes TD, Wildcats took a 14-0 lead in the second quarter when Hutton directed an 85 yard march, behind the running of bruising Mike O'Brien and elusive Ian Press.  O'Brien finished it off with a three yard run.

"This win was a lot more satisfying than winning the Scarborough title," admitted Noakes.  "We played East York in pre-season and they beat us 21-0.  We heard all season about how they were saying we weren't that good."

"We had the incentive to go after them.  And the coaches worked us hard.  It's the first time in four years I've worked up a sweat during practices."

"East York didn't pass as much as we expected and they couldn't run against us."

Henderson said the win proved his team could play the three or four down game.

"The three down game didn't hurt us," he said.  "We were able to move the ball on the ground, which was the key thing for us.  Our offensive line (Centre Scott Clark, Guards John Cole and Brian Gomez, Tackles Mike Boland and Brent Baiden and Ends Rob Conroy and McGiven) were superb.

"We thought we may have to throw more on first down against them, but we were moving on the ground because of the work of that line."

"And they couldn't run against us and I think that's a tribute to the defence.  The Offensive Line and the defence did the work for us."  The win completes a perfect season for the Wildcats.  They were 6-0 in league play, added two playoff victories and ended the season on a high note by winning the Metro Bowl, a goal that eluded them last year in the final against St. Michael's Kerry Blues.

Even though four of the six teams originally slated to play withdrew from the competition for various reasons, it didn't make the Wildcat's win any less significant.

The second Metro Bowl saw league after league bow out of the competition for the title.  In the end, it appeared that only two leagues remained to contest the second title.  The Woburn Wildcats were returning with the goal to make amends for their loss in the first Metro Bowl.  Their opponents were the East York Goliaths.

Stars for the 1983 Woburn Wildcats included: Bobby Anderson, Rob Conroy, Stu Harshaw, Kent Hutton, Mike O'Brien, Ian Press and John Wright.