Metro Bowl

1997

Date: Friday, November 21st

Venue: Sky Dome, Toronto

Nelson Lords defeated Cedarbrae Colts

Preliminary

Noteworthy

Season was impacted by a teacher's strike.

York Region, Region of Peel and Hamilton Public pulled out citing the fact that four games would have to be played in 10 days and a two week teacher's strike was also a factor.  Invitations to Trinity (Private School Champion) and Peterborough were withdrawn.  Etobicoke either withdrew or also had their invitation withdrawn. 

Five leagues participated in the playdowns.  TDCAA, TSSAA and Halton's champions advanced to the semi-finals while the declared Champions of Durham and Scarborough met to determine the final team in the semi-finals.  The Scarborough league season was curtailed by a labour dispute while Durham did eventually hold playoffs following the Metro Bowl competition.  Henry Street did win that league title after being eliminated from the Metro Bowl.

Qualifiers
Durham Bowl: Cedarbrae Colts 28, Henry Street Hawks 21
TDCAA Championship: Michael Power 14, St. Michaels College 7
TSSAA Championship: Central Tech Blues 12, Northern Red Knights 0
Halton Championship: Nelson Lords 28, Loyola Hawks 0

Semifinals
November 18th
Cedarbrae Colts 28, Michael Power/St. Josephs Trojans 6
Nelson Lords 31, Central Tech. Blues 0

Championship

Nelson Lords 14, Cedarbrae Colts 7

David Grossman provided the following game report in the November 22nd edition of the Toronto Star:

If there were any doubts about Jason Currie being high school football's most valuable player this season, he put them all to rest last night at the SkyDome.

An emotional Currie, surrounded by jubilant teammates from Nelson High School, refused to take the credit for his stunning two-way performance in leading the Nelson Lords to their first Metro Bowl championship ... a 14-7 come-from-behind win over the Cedarbrae Colts.

It was the 6-foot-1 Currie, who seconds after picking off his second interception while playing safety, took the controls as quarterback and fired a 14-yard touchdown pass to Sam Driscoll with four seconds left on the game clock.

"We were in so close and the clock was running down that I just wanted to kick a single but the coach called the pass and told me to go for the end zone," said Currie, who was awarded The Star's game MVP award.

"(Cedarbrae) seemed to be off guard after the pickoff and I guess they weren't expecting the pass."

For the Burlington team, enjoying an unblemished 10-0 season, it was also its biggest gridiron win in school history.

Cedarbrae, undefeated in eight games, suffered a crushing blow as the Colts had controlled most of the game with the power running of taiback Dahrran Diedriick

"Wow...my last game in high school and what a way to leave" added Currie.  My offensive lines is the best in Ontario but it's our defensive team that deserves all the credit."

While Cedarbrae took the lead on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Carlo Collura to Jarel Cockburn on the last play of the first quarter, it was the University of Nebraska bound Diedrick who impressed onlookers with his punishing rushing.

Although Diedrick for one of the few times this year didn't reach the end zone, the 6-foot-1, 210 pound speedster piled up 154 yards on 31 carries, including a handful of fourth-down gambles.

"They say he's the best running back in Canada and I believe it" praised Currie.

Cedarbrae had a glorious opportunity to add to its lead before halftime but Currie pulled the plug on a 14 play drive intercepting Collura.

With the Colts defence in control of the much ballyhooed Nelson scoring machine, a team that averaged 30 points a game, Mike Dunford recovered a fumble by David Swansey and dipsey doodled around desperate defenders for a 50-yard touchdown with 6:12 left in the third quarter.

Currie kicked his first of two converts.

"I was really troubled that we didn't have much of that ball in the first half and our defence just seemed to be on the field whenever I looked," said Nelson coach Bob Stacey.

"We didn't want to tie," said Cedarbrae coach Rick Burke, who instructed Collura to pass in the final minute.  "We decided to gamble and the kid picked it off and burst our balloon."