Twin City Predators to add junior team led by “Tuffy” Knight


At the O.F.C. Annual General Meeting in Toronto last weekend, the conference’s junior division added an eighth team, the Predators from the Kitchener-Waterloo region. The team expects legendary coach Tuffy Knight to lead them into the 2011 season.

Kitchener-Waterloo will soon be home to a new Canadian Junior Football (CJFL) team.
The Ontario Football Conference (OFC) approved Friday at their annual general meeting the granting of a new Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) franchise to the Twin Cities Minor Tackle Football Association, which currently fields teams in each of the Bantam, Junior Varsity and Varsity divisions of the OFC.
“The vision for this team is to become to football what the Kitchener Rangers are to Hockey,” explained Jim Macarthur, Twin Cities Minor Tackle Football Association President. “Obviously, many of the fans at the university games are alumni of either UW or WLU and as such, have to choose a side to cheer for. This is a team that the entire region can get behind.”
The CJFL level team also provides a conduit for skilled players who don’t go on to university to keep playing after high school, Macarthur said.
“This team provides an avenue for young men who are at a critical stage in their lives to direct some of the deeply-ingrained “warrior instincts” in a positive manner. For many good players, their football days are essentially over when they finish high school. This will give them an additional avenue to be noticed by the pro scouts and potentially lead to a CFL career. “Because we are part of the Toronto Argonauts playing pyramid, our players will be actual property of the Argos until they finish their CJFL career.”
Among notable CJFL alumni who have gone on to play in the CFL are Peter Dalla Riva, long-term Tight End for the Montreal Alouettes, Tony Gabriel of the Ottawa Roughriders and Larry Wruck, All-Star Linebacker of the Edmonton Eskimos, to name a few.
Negotiations are underway with local football coaching legend Dave “Tuffy” Knight to head up the coaching staff, Macarthur said. A three-time winner of the Frank Tindall Trophy as the top university football coach in Canada, Knight led the Laurier Golden Hawks to three provincial Yates Cups between 1972-1978, and the University of Waterloo Warriors to the title in 1997. In between his tenures at Waterloo’s rival universities, Knight spent five years with the Toronto Argonauts as director of player personnel. Inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 2007, Knight was, at the time of his retirement from for UW, the winningest coach in Canadian University football history, with 153 wins over 28 years.
Tryouts will be open to players under 23 in 2011, beginning with a spring camp in late May, with call backs slated for mid-July. The CJFL Predators will face OFC teams from seven other centres, including Burlington, Hamilton, Ottawa and St. Leonard, Quebec, through the regular season beginning in mid-August. The mid-November Championship is one of only three National Championships for Canadian football. Established in 1883, the CJFL consists of the OFC, BC Football Conference and Prairie Football Conference.
The CJFL franchise has already been endorsed by both Waterloo Mayor Brenda Halloran and Kitchener Mayor Carl Zehr. Macarthur notes municipal offices recognize the potential value to the community of a CFL-sponsored team. An endorsement is also expected from the City of Cambridge, as there are no geographic boundaries for players.
“This team will bring spectators in from other regions and they will undoubtedly spend a few dollars here,” Macarthur said.
Home games will be at Knight-Newbrough Stadium in Waterloo.
TCMTFA is actively seeking corporate and community sponsorships to assist with startup and ongoing operations, Macarthur said.
Playoffs could take the Predators “anywhere in the country that plays in the CJFL,” Macarthur said. In 2010, the Hamilton Hurricanes travelled to Nanaimo, BC for the semi-final Inter Gold game.

Dave “Tuffy” Knight

Biographical Information
* Born in Clarksburg, West Virginia
* Had successful coaching career at high school and college level in the U.S.
* Hired by Wilfrid Laurier University in 1965. Became head football coach a year later
* Coached six OUA championship teams, including the 1997 Waterloo title
* Only three-time winner of the CIAU Coach of the Year award: 1972, 1979 and 1989
* Served as Director of Player Personnel for the Toronto Argonauts from 1984-88
* Knight is the all-time winningest coach in CIAU history with a record of 163-79-4
* At Waterloo, Knight inherited a struggling program and produced a winning season in two years (1989)
* In 1996, Knight led Waterloo to its first ever playoff win and first win over Western since 1969
* In 1997, Knight led Waterloo to its first ever Yates Cup (OUA crown) with a road win over Western. Only a loss to Ottawa in the Churchill Bowl prevented a Vanier Cup appearance

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