Ontario Football Conference pre-season coaches notes


The Ontario Football Conference enters the 2010 season with seven teams with the addition of the Brampton Bears. The season opens with two games Saturday August 7th at 7:00 pm. The Bears open at home with the Burlington Braves as the opposition. The second will see a replay of the 2009 OFC championship as the St Leonard Cougars travel to Ottawa to face the Sooners, the 2009 champs.

The seven OFC teams are either or have already conducted spring mini camps.

The Burlington Braves have already held their spring camp, May 3-7 at Assumption High School in Burlington.
The Ottawa Sooners hold spring works out every Tuesday night throughout April and May.
The Hamilton Hurricanes held their spring camp at McMaster University April 6-10.
The St Leonard Cougars will hold their spring camp at their practice facility La Dauversière Park May 29-30.
The London Beefeaters look to hold a spring workout the week of June 7th.
The Windsor AKO Fratmen will hold three spring sessions, May 25-27, June 15-17 and July 6-8 all at AKO Park.
The Brampton Bears have not decided on a spring date at this time.

Several fundraisers are planned by the teams ranging from golf tournaments to gala dinners.
Golf Tournaments –
 Burlington Braves – Wednesday June 2nd at Tyandaga Golf Club
 London Beefeaters – Sunday June 13th at Forest City National Golf Club
 Windsor AKO Fratmen – Saturday July 24th at Belle View Golf Course
Dinners –
 Hamilton Hurricanes Thursday August 26th at Michelangelo’s in Hamilton. The night will be a “Tribute
Roast” to honour 2 great men within Football circles and close to the Hurricanes organization, George Knill
and Dennis Griffin. Both have ties to the club and have coached at various times throughout their careers.
As well, the Canes 3rd Annual Gala will be held in November 2010.

2010 Expectations & Notes by the Head Coaches in response to these questions –

Who are your key returning players?
Who are your key rookies?
What are your expectations for the 2010 OFC season?
The OFC champion travels to the BCFC in 2010 for the Intergold Cup?
What are your thoughts? Does this help with recruiting?

Andy McEvoy Ottawa Sooners

– “Key returnees – Andrew Leeflang DE / Corey
Armstrong LB / Danny Mullins Athlete / Kevin Damiano DB /Kennedy Hall FB, Ron Omara LB / Ryan Doull OL / Shane Nolan DB / Steven Larocque DL/Thomas Shaw LB – Undecided / Mo Njau DB – Undecided. There are 50 Rookies working out. The Sooners are looking forward to the upcoming season. After a successful return to the OFC in 2009, the Sooners are looking to defend their title. They know, they will have no easy games this year and will not sneak up
on anyone this year. The organization is working hard both on and off the field trying to put everything in place so the players will have the best opportunity to repeat as OFC champions and take the next step in becoming National Champions. The Sooners would like to take this opportunity to welcome the Brampton Bears into the OFC and look forward to playing them this year.”

Jason Hayes Hamilton Hurricanes

“41 rookies attended our spring camp.
DE Callum Ramsey and RB Samuel Donker were tremendous during the spring game. Big things expected from our defence. 10 starters returning from 09. They will be led by LB Aram Eisho and FS Jamal George Offensively we will have a great battle for the QB position with Mike Chase, Matt Francis and Belkar Sighn At receiver Skylar Hurst and Chris Johnston give us a great duo. The OL returns 4 starters and some key recruits. Our players and staff are ready to contend for the OFC title.”

Jeff Rached St Leonard Cougars

“Key returnees – Qb’s – Sheldon Moore & Gianni
Settino, Kicker – Scott Leblanc, Rb – Beni Djock, Rec’s – Joel Martinez, Igor Vieux, Sébastien Crisi-Lauzon, Jonathan René, DB’s – Garrett Taylor & Mike Dubuisson, DL – Simon Rahal, Samuel Ngalamulume, David Francique. Key rookies – Qb – Steve Lavallee starting Qb Laval Devils QJFL, DL – Qadr Spooner Midget All-Star Rb – Kyle Zarmair Concordia last season, Rec – Philippe Lamarche All-Star QJFL – Hugo Dumas & Chris M’Bemba both played for Univ Montreal Carabins last season, OL – Bruno Gilbert All-Star QJFL DB – Jocelyn Calixte & Rakeem Desmond both standouts in the QJFL. To be very competitive again and compete for the top echelon in the conference! This is the toughest year in the national level rotation, winning on the road for both the Intergold & Canadian Bowl. Teams with this type of experience at least have an understanding / experience they can draw on for their players. In our case this is a huge recruiting tool especially with the amount of football being offered here in Quebec to 18
to 22 year olds (Univ (6), Cegep AAA (6), Cegep AA (23), QJFL (6). So being able to offer this type of competition and exposure and travel at the national is definitely an excellent recruiting tool. The OFC is enjoying growth again with another team Brampton joining the conference and the level of parody is creating exciting and character building games for all teams this bodes well for a team from the east to make a serious run for the national title.”

Brad Winder London Beefeaters

– “Key returnees – Offense: Line-Ryan Lockyer, Jonah Mattson, Running Back-C.J. Zsoldos, Anthony Surmanski, Tom Southwick, Matt Chona, Josh Carter, Receivers- Ryan Robbins, James Morrissey, Josh Dupuis. Defense: Line-Patrick Kuszaj, Rob Bowman, Tai Pham, Daniel Wettlaufer, Linebackers-Rob Varallo, Chris Vanmeppelenscheppink, Grant Weaver, Dave Portlock, Defensive Backs-Omar Chams, Mohammed Mohammed, Connor Grinnell, Zack Dean, Mike Scratch, Ahmed Halbouni and Brock Wheeler. Prospects – Prospects: Offense-Line-Travis Cassin, Running Back-Brendan Allen, Receivers- Nathan Moniz.”

Mike Lachance Windsor AKO Fratmen

– “Key Returning Vets: Mike Ingratta
– WR – OFC All-star 2009, Joe Tritler (09 All-star), Jordan Campeau, Ahmed Abusafeyeh – OL Dylan Dumachelle – LB Deandre Jones – DB Key Rookies: Robb Matton – WR – Herman High School – Windsor/Essex County All-star WR/DB (defensive player of the year) James Drew – Athlete – Herman High School.
Our expectations are an OFC Championship, but we must replace many key all star players like Ricky Simons, Terry Mauldin, and Adam Hart. No, the extra travel does not help recruiting. But it should be an exciting year around the OFC….I expect all of the teams to contend which should make for a great year.”

Craig Daveron Burlington Braves

– “James Lowes will lead a talented group on defence. Jerome Barrett will look to follow up his rookie season with some big numbers. Going to have a lot of prospects for top rookie. Could be one of many, that competition will exciting! I expect 2010 to be full of battles, the Braves will be much improved, Windsor wants back in the playoff picture and the other 4 teams do not want to give up what they earned last season. Add the Bears into the mix and you have a recipe for the most exciting OFC season in years! Any road trip is something to look forward too. I am not sure what the fascination with BC is…..I suppose we will have to win the OFC to find out?”


Mark Houlder Brampton Bears

– “The new and improved Brampton Bears will house football players between the ages of 17 and 22 who are looking for an opportunity to improve their football skills to advance to the next level by playing in a professional football league. Under the watchful eyes of President Ian Smith and Head Coach Mark Houlder – this team will no doubt be championship material. Our local players will enhance their skills and will also be part of the top feeder system to the CFL due to close ties with the Toronto Argonauts. As they have declared in their mission statement: “The Brampton Football mission is to educate and introduce young men to the personal and community-wide benefits associated with teamwork, discipline, respect and sacrifice.”

Jack Emerson Low
Media Coordinator
[email][email protected]

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