Ottawa Sooners @ St. Clair Saints – Sunday October 20, 7:00pm – Acumen Stadium | WATCH HERE

The juggernaut Saints haven’t given their opposition much of a prayer this season as they get set to open the Canadian Bowl playoffs when they host the Ottawa Sooners in a semi-final on Sunday night.

The Saints are outscoring their opposition this season 61-4 on average and have homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.  They can beat teams in so many different ways on offence, defence and special teams.  

Offensively they are led by a flurry of Conference All-Stars and the Most Outstanding Offensive Player of the Year in quarterback Maurice Sodja.  He is a duel threat quarterback who averaged just under 300 yards gained each game this season both throwing and running the ball.  Through the air he completed 68.6% of his passes for 1508 yards and 22 touchdowns while also running for 627 yards, averaging over 10 yards a carry and scored eight more majors. Sodja has a fabulous supporting cast as well getting time to throw the ball from the offensive line along with a pair of All-Star receivers in Darius France and Cam St. Kitts-Park and running back MJ Doyle-Marshall.

Over on the defence this team is stacked recording four shutouts and not giving up more than 10 points in any game this season.  They are littered with All-Stars including Defensive Player of the Year Jaylin Burnett and linebacker Mo Ibraheem and the Kazadi brothers in the secondary. 

The Sooners can play free and without any pressure as the underdogs in this game.  They were one of the two teams this season to score 10 points on the Saints and will obviously be looking for more on Sunday.  

They recorded a quarterfinal win over the Hamilton Hurricanes last weekend to get any playoff jitters out of their system.  This will be a tall task for the Sooners, but if they can get ahead of the Saints early and possibly cause some adversity on the other sideline it could give them some momentum and, in the playoffs, momentum can be a funny thing.  

Offensively they have some very dangerous weapons in Christian Phillips and Rashaad Johnson who will need to play major factors in this game.  The defence must get some turnovers and some big stops early not allowing the Saints to drive the field and score. 

The winner will advance to the Ontario Conference championship game and one step closer to hosting the 2024 Canadian Bowl on November 9th.