Junior Spartans can clinch home playoff date in rematch with Bulldogs

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For the first time this season, the Sudbury Junior Spartans will battle a team for the second time.

That opponent, the North Bay Bulldogs will serve as the Junior Spartans’ Week 8 opponents in the Ontario Provincial Football League regular season schedule.
Game time is 4 p.m. on Saturday at Steve Omischl Sports Complex in North Bay.

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Junior Spartans can clinch home playoff date in rematch with Bulldogs Back to video

With only two games left before playoffs, the stakes almost couldn’t be any higher.

A win over the Bulldogs will give Sudbury (4-2) a guaranteed home playoff game in the quarter-finals.

The top four teams from both divisions earn a playoff spot, with the top two teams earning home-field advantage in at least Round 1 of the post-season.

The Junior Spartans currently sit first in the North Division, but York (3-3), North Bay (2-4) and Orangeville (2-3) are still hanging around and can change the playoff picture with a win or two, along with a loss or two by the locals.

“We control our own destiny,” said Jordan Desilets, Sudbury’s defensive co-ordinator, defensive backs coach, and the statistical wizard of the team. “But within the last two, three weeks, the North Division has had a lot of teams beating one another, so the standings are still very tight.”

There’s a lot of parity in the league.

“There was some direction early on, but the last few weeks, that went away completely,” Desilets said.

North teams beating division rivals have thrown the entire division for a spin, except for the lowly TNT (0-5).

“We’re playing it one game at a time,” Desilets said. “We’re still not thinking about the playoffs. We know we have North Bay this weekend, we know it’s a rivalry game, and we know they’re a part of these tight standings in the North, so we just have to take care of business this weekend.”

The Junior Spartans defeated the Bulldogs earlier in the season at James Jerome Sports Complex, by a 28-14 score — Sudbury’s first-ever win in the OPFL.

“We played them June 1 in Sudbury and they were a run-heavy team,” Desilets said. “Just by (looking) at scores from around the league and whatnot, they may have become very multi-dimensional or (have had) player development at different positions.

“We’re thinking they’ll be a way different team. That’s just the mind set that we hold. Regardless, we still have to go down there and play Sudbury football.”

After that win against the Bulldogs, the Junior Spartans took to the road for three consecutive weeks, posting a 2-1 record and, according to Desilets, spending roughly 30 hours on the bus due to travel.

All of that time spent together, however, may have been a blessing in disguise. The Junior Spartans only came into fruition a short time before they began their regular season, and when they did, they had only two weeks of practice because of poor field conditions. The three weeks of football away from Sudbury forced them to come together as a group.

Then, back home last week, they outscored the visiting Clarington Knights 21-6 over the final two quarters of play to win 36-13.

And now, here they are, with a 4-2 record and a chance to host a playoff game in their inaugural season, and they get to do so against a team they’ve already battled once before. This time, the Junior Spartans are more prepared and, as the coaching staff view it, are beginning to peak at the perfect time of the year.

“Our offence is just starting to turn on all cylinders,” Desilets said.

With 140 points, the Junior Spartans have scored the most in the North Division.

“One week we could do one thing, the following week we might do another thing, and that is very beneficial to the team that we have that much balance.”

Shifting his focus to this week, Desilets said he’d like to see how the Junior Spartans respond to the Bulldogs, regardless of the outcome of the first game.

“Seeing (our reaction to) their better players being even better from the first time that we saw them, and (we just want to) have a great game of football,” he said.

Twitter: @keith_dempsey