Ready for Rogers

A year ago the Churchill Trojans arrived at Rogers Centre in Toronto and promptly found themselves in a 31-0 hole.

Though the Trojans rallied last year, losing a 34-28 decision to Sault Ste. Marie’s Superior Heights Collegiate and Vocational Institute, returning quarterback Jarred White said they’re not about to let that happen again.

Experience matters, the Grade 12 White added.

“Playing in that atmosphere, in the Rogers Centre, is definitely going to help us this year, coming prepared to play at 8:30 in the morning,” he said Sunday as his team went through its final preparation at the Sports Dome.

“You get some jitters. Playing in the Rogers Centre, with all the OUA coaches there (is tough), but once the game gets going I think that kind of goes away.”

The Trojans, who on Nov. 17 knocked off No.1 seed Hammarskjold in the Superior Secondary School Athletic Association senior boys final, are ready for Tuesday’s challenge, when they’ll take on the St. Mary’s Knights, a five-time Northern Bowl champion, a title count matched only by Toronto’s St. Michael’s College.

“I think we’re pretty well prepared, we’ve just got to go out there and execute on Tuesday,” he said.

The Trojans, making their third Northern Bowl appearance in four years, rolled through most of the regular season relying on the 6-foot-5 White’s prolific arm to lead them to a 5-1-1 campaign, their lone loss coming in the regular-season finale against Hammarskjold.

But come playoff time Churchill unveiled a pretty solid run game that caught the Vikings off-guard in the final, backs Justin Fui and Allen Chen chewing up large chunks of ground and freeing White to do what he does best.

White, who tossed seven touchdowns in a 79-0 win over Superior Collegiate in October, said the key to success is something simpler.

“I think just not killing ourselves, turning the ball over, dropping open passes, missing receivers. We just have to play football and avoid penalties. I think turnovers will be key for us. If we don’t turn the ball over, we’ve got a pretty good offence and we’ll put up points,” he said.

Coach Mike Doromko will be looking for his first title, and the city’s first since 2007, when Westgate brought the trophy back to Thunder Bay.

Hammarskjold also won in 2005, and Doromko said Churchill has something in common with both teams.

“We have the experience. We’ve been there before. And if you look at any Thunder Bay team that’s gone down there and won, it’s been the team that’s been down there the year before and has gone back and understands what it’s all about,” Doromko said.

“It’s a completely new game down there. It’s fun, there’s no doubt about that, but getting these guys ready to go and not so wide-eyed and focused is the hard part.”

The players are hungry, he added.

“This team doesn’t like to get beat. There’s no doubt about that. They always come back and redeem themselves and hopefully they can redeem themselves.”

The key to stopping St. Mary’s is stopping their run game.

“Their quarterback throws a nice deep ball … We’re really hoping to stop their run. They’ve got a big offensive line and a couple of big running backs that we’re going to make sure we clean up.”