They came into the season with a target on their backs, but after eight regular season games and three playoff contests, the Sault Steelers are still the team to beat in the Northern Football Conference.
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With a 35-4 triumph over the Tri-City Outlaws on Saturday night at Rocky DiPietro Field, the Steelers repeated as NFC champions, and also picked up their third title in the last four seasons.
“When we first started out in early May, I told the guys that the most difficult thing to do is to repeat,” Steelers head coach Seth Cond said.
“Your opponents are well aware of your strengths and they want to attack your weaknesses, but our guys always look for challenges and they accepted this one and they delivered.”
Running back Josh Gauthier displayed his usual dominance on the field, as he rushed for 206 yards and four touchdowns on 17 carriers, on his way to taking home most valuable player honours on offense.
“This is what everybody has been aiming for since the beginning of the year, and to actually come out here and do it feels awesome,” Gauthier, who also won the offensive M.V.P. award during the 2007 and 2009 championship games, said.
“Our team leaves it all out there on the field, and we’re all there for each other as well, everybody just enjoys one another.”
Adam Ross took home the M.V.P. award on the defensive side of the field, as he made 9.5 tackles along with recovering a fumble.
“I had my first encounter with him this year, and as good a player he is on the field, I’ve learned that he’s an even better person off of it,” Cond, who also picked up his first championship as a head coach in his rookie season on Saturday night, said.
“Adam’s always around the football, he falls back into the zone and he covers his receivers very well. He’s just the full package.”
It was a tough pill to swallow for the Outlaws as they fell short of winning the NFC title for the second straight season to the Steelers, having lost by a score of 31-18 in their 2009 encounter.
“I’ll be honest with you, it’s really tough to win out here,” Outlaws head coach Chris Newsome said of the Sault’s home field advantage.
“They (the Steelers) had a really solid game plan tonight. They were determined to run the ball and throw it when they had to, and they executed it to perfection.
“My guys played as hard as they could play, but honestly if you can’t slow Josh (Gauthier) down and force them to do something else, you’re not going to win the game and we couldn’t do that today.” Newsome added.
In the first quarter it was the Outlaws who made the game’s first big statement, as they stuffed Steelers quarterback Darrell Wood on a fourth down sneak attempt at about mid-field, forcing a turnover.
Following a big 18 yard run by quarterback Jeff Nosal on third down, the Outlaws moved their way down the field into field goal range. Nosal, who also handles the team’s field goals, kicked his attempt wide left but still gave his team a single point as the ball rolled out of the end zone.
The Steelers thought that they had picked up their first points of the game in the early seconds of the second quarter, when Gauthier made his way into the end zone on a 20 yard run. However, the offense was given a penalty for a false start, which nullified the touchdown. Anthony Posteraro’s field goal attempt would fall short of the uprights a couple of plays later, leaving the score at 1-0 for Tri-City.
Momentum would quickly swing back into the Steelers favour a few plays later, when the Outlaws fumbled away the football on the exchange between Nosal and running back Jonathan Nedeljkovic in the backfield, allowing Matt Arnold to make the recovery in Tri-City territory.
With good field position, it didn’t take long for the Steelers offense to take advantage, as Gauthier bounced his way around the field for a 12 yard touchdown. Posteraro’s point after attempt was good, putting the Sault in front by a score of 7-1.
Gauthier appeared to have picked up his second touchdown of the quarter with three minutes remaining on the clock, as he scampered to the far side of the field for a 33 yard run into the end zone. However, the Steelers were again called for a penalty, and they were again unable to muster anything else on the drive.
The final minute of the first half saw a variety of action between both teams. Following a punt that pinned them to their own one-yard line, the Outlaws were unable to get anything going on offense, and seemed to be lining up to punt the ball back the other way. Instead, the Outlaws went for a fake punt to try and keep their drive alive, only to have their punter be brought down by Ross in the end zone for a safety and extend the Soo lead to 9-1.
On the ensuing kick-off, Dan Leduc returned the ball down the sidelines for a touchdown, but once again the Steelers were called for a penalty on a block below the waist, much to the dismay of both the Steelers bench and the home crowd.
The Steelers would have the ball in good field position despite the penalty, but their drive would come to a screeching halt when Shawn Ashe picked off quarterback Travis McLean to give the Outlaws a chance to put points on the board before halftime.
Following a number of passing plays to move down the field, Nosal was unable to get the football into the end zone for a touchdown, as the Outlaws were forced to kick a field goal from 23 yards out which put the score at 9-4 at halftime.
On the very first play of the third quarter, the Steelers would set the tone for the rest of the game, as Joey Storozuk returned the football down to the ten-yard line on the opening kick-off. Gauthier would then power his way into the end zone for a ten-yard touchdown, which extended the Steelers lead to 16-4.
“I think those two plays were really tough for them (Tri-City) to swallow,” Cond said about the opening seconds of the third quarter, which he felt turned the tide in his team’s direction.
“To have only played thirty seconds of the half and be down by that many points is a real killer. That was a crucial point in the game and after that we were able to move the football and put some more points on the board.”
After Posteraro added a single point on a kick-off and three more points on a 25-yard field goal, Gauthier ran for his third touchdown of the game on a 22 yard run into the end zone, following a fumble recovery by Ross on the previous play. Posteraro would add another single point on the ensuing kick-off, which put the score at 28-4 for the Steelers heading into the fourth quarter.
Following a turnover on downs near the goal-line by the Outlaws, Gauthier would put the dagger into Tri-City’s heart, with a 99-yard run into end zone to cap off his four-touchdown performance. Posteraro’s point after attempt was good, which rounded out the Steelers scoring.
While Gauthier has gotten a lot of accolades during the last three Steelers championships, he knows that no running back can be successful without the help of the offensive line.
“During the play, before the play and after the play we’re always talking and that’s what makes us as good as we are.
“That and you got a lightning fast running back, so that helps.” Gauthier joked.
With the win, the Steelers will have a chance to repeat as Canadian Major Football League champions on Saturday September 25th in Red Deer, Alberta, against a yet-to-be determined opponent from the Alberta Football League.
After winning the national championship under the four-down rules of the NFC in both 2007 and 2009, the Steelers will find themselves playing under the three-down rules of the AFL when they travel into their territory.
“In that three-down environment it allows you to open up the playbook and that should make things a little bit more exciting,” Cond said.
“Obviously you have one less opportunity to gain that extra bit of yardage, so we’ll have to tweak a few things. But with the talented receiving core that we have, it will allow us to implement some things into the offense to help put things in our favour.”
Gauthier also looks forward to challenge of going out west and playing in a completely different environment than that of the NFC.
“It’s a totally different game out there, so we want to see how we can do in that aspect,” Gauthier said.
“We put up over 100 total points in our previous two encounters, so we want to see if we can do that now in their environment, and we can’t wait.”
In their previous two national championship games, the Steelers hammered the Edmonton Stallions by a score of 59-10 in Oshawa in 2007, followed by another 65-6 drubbing of the Stallions at Rocky DiPietro Field in 2009.
Saturday’s title win also put the number of NFC championships won by Sault Ste. Marie teams to seven. Along with the three championships won by the current Steelers team, the original Sault Steelers franchise took home four titles in 1972, 1975, 1976 and 1980. The 1972 team would go on to win the national championship in a 26-7 victory over the London Lords.
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