Metro Bowl

1986

Date: Friday, November 21st

Venue: North York Civic Stadium, Toronto

Victoria Park Panthers defeated Markham Marauders

Noteworthy
The semi-finals were very interesting in that the Scarborough Champions were to play the North York Champions.  However it was discovered that Woburn had used an overage player to win the Scarborough league.  They were stripped of their title however they still had the option to play as an Independent team.  Fearing additional penalties from the Scarborough league, if they played, Woburn elected to drop out of the Metro Bowl playdowns.  Pickering, who had previously been defeated by a score of 35-26 by Markham in a game between the Durham Champions and York Region Champions, was then given the opportunity to advance to the Metro Bowl by playing Victoria Park.

Northern after capturing the Toronto title declined to participate in the Metro Bowl playdowns and therefore the Division "B" Champions (Western Tech.) participated.

Semi-finals

Markham Marauders 15, Western Tech 12

Victoria Park Panthers 27, Pickering 8

Metro Bowl Championship

Victoria Park Panthers 21, Markham Marauders 12

Rob Wilson led the Victoria Park Panthers to their first Metro Bowl title as the tight end received three passes for 120 yards including two touchdowns and a two point convert despite snowy field conditions.  The game, which was played in bitter cold conditions, remained scoreless until there were five minutes remaining until the half when Wilson was on the receiving end of a 45 yard touchdown pass thrown by Dean Bendall.  The convert attempt was a broken play and once again Bendall went to Wilson for the two pointer.  Pat Reid would extend the lead to 14-0 with less than a minute remaining until three quarter time with a six-yard run.  The two-point convert attempt failed when receiver Junior McLaughlin tripped on a snow bank in the end zone.  The never say die Marauders fought back in the fourth quarter as Mark Esdale threw touchdown passes to Jim Butler and Mike Mazzozoli, which reduced the margin in the game to 14-12.  On both touchdowns, Markham elected to try for two point converts and both failed.  The move by coach Ed Curry was somewhat interesting in that the point after man "Dave Crilly" had missed on only one of thirty attempts over the course of the season.  With 3:40 remaining, Bendall connected on a 75 yard touchdown pass and run to Wilson to put the game out of reach and earn Wilson the game MVP honours.  The defensive MVP award went to Pat Tait from Markham who recorded 12 tackles in the game.