National Capital Bowl

2000

Date: Friday, December 1st

Venue: SkyDome, Toronto

Centennial Chargers (Bay of Quinte) defeated Ashbury College (Ottawa)

Semi-final

Centennial Chargers (Bay of Quinte, Belleville) 41, Almonte Thunderbolts (Ottawa Valley) 0
Ashbury (Ottawa Carlton) advanced directly to the final after winning the Ottawa league title.

Final

Centennial Chargers 43, Ashbury College 7

The following article by Sean Casey appeared in the Ottawa Citizen on December 2nd:
 

Ashbury College's 18-game high school football winning streak came to an abrupt halt yesterday at SkyDome when the powerful Belleville Centennials Chargers crushed the Colts 43-7 in the first National Capital Bowl.

Chargers head coach Barry Pyear didn't deny that his team wanted to run up the score in retribution for the poor quality of game tape the Colts had sent him to prepare for the game.

"We had agreed to exchange game tapes and what they sent us was trash," he said. "It was as if the game was filmed three fields away, but they said it was the best film they had. We got some scouting reports from some Ottawa coaches and we wanted to score often against them."

It was obvious that the Chargers wanted to run the score up when quarterback Ryan Pyear took off for a two-point convert with the score 36-7, but Ashbury coach Dwayne Smith opted not to discuss the Belleville tactics.

Although he was disappointed with the loss, he never thought his club would win its second straight National Capital title this season.

"Getting this far was a bonus," he said. "We thought this year was going to be a rebuilding year after winning the championship last season. We lost 12 starters, but the kids worked hard and they were committed to our program. I'm proud of them."

The Colts were also hampered by practising only six times in almost three weeks to prepare for the Chargers. Smith had difficulty scheduling practices because many of his players were involved in other school sports.

"The lack of practice time showed in our fundamentals," said Smith. "We were rusty, especially our tackling. It was sloppy."

But even if the Colts had been able to stage regular practices, they were no match for the Chargers who finished the season with a 12-0 record, outscoring their opposition 538-36 in the process.

Ashbury opened the game with an impressive march, surprising Belleville by throwing on six of their first seven offensive plays, but a pass interception by Tyler Mcleod on the Chargers' five was the turning point of the game, "We were never in danger after that," said Barry Pyear.

Following the interception, Ryan Pyear, who is one of the most highly recruited quarterbacks in Ontario by Canadian universities, struck for second- quarter touchdown passes to Steve Wickens and Ian Vandenhuk as Belleville jumped into a 14-0 lead at halftime.

Running back Dave MacLellan scored three touchdowns and Matt Holgate added another in the second half. Ashbury's only touchdown came on a 60-yard pass-and-run play featuring wide receiver Greg Ross and quarterback Stuart Robinson late in the third quarter.

Ashbury advanced to the National Capital Bowl by defeating the St. Mark Lions 3-2 while the Belleville Centennial Chargers beat the Almonte Thunderbolts 41-0