Colts punch OFSAA ticket in senior football

The Korah Colts will have a chance to win an Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) title at home.

Thanks to a 36-0 win over North Bay’s Algonquin Barons on Saturday afternoon at Superior Heights, the Colts captured the Northern Ontario Secondary School Athletics (NOSSA) senior football title

Korah coach Tom Annett credited the Colts defensive game in the victory.

“Our defence played excellent,” Annett said. “(Algonquin) had a really hard time moving the ball. Our guys really executed our game plan well and had a lot of hard hits too. Our defence really shone today.”

Michael Nicoletta ran for 199 yards on 18 carries and three touchdowns for the Colts, who put up 438 yards rushing in the game.

The run game included having quarterback Ryan Barnes take reps as a running back as well in the game.

“Ryan runs the ball really hard,” Annett said. “Him and Nicoletta are a great one-two punch. He’s a downhill, physical runner. Our two other backs, Ronan Provenzano and Jesse Burella had some really explosive plays as well.”

Burella ran the ball 10 times for 78 yards, while Provenzano had 83 yards rushing on eight carries, and Barnes ran the ball for 59 yards on 11 carries

Nicoletta got the Colts on the scoreboard first with a 13-yard touchdown run with just over six minutes to go in the opening quarter. The major, combined with a convert by Jack Tuckett made it 7-0 Korah.

After a fumble at the Barons goalline earlier in the quarter negated a scoring opportunity for the Colts, Barnes extended the Korah lead in the latter half of the second quarter.

A one-yard touchdown run with the convert tacked on made it 14-0 Colts with 4:32 to go in the opening half.

Algonquin initially avoided falling further behind when a field goal attempt by Tuckett was blocked by the Barons defence.

On the subsequent possession, the Barons proceeded to surrender a safety with 1:12 to go in the half, making it 16-0 Korah.

Barnes then set up a late-half touchdown by Nicoletta when he hit Nathan Keranen with a 31-yard pass to move the ball deep in Algonquin territory.

On the next play, Nicoletta picked up his second major of the game on a one-yard run. A convert on the play by Tuckett made the score 23-0 Colts heading into the half.

“Those were huge,” Annett said of the touchdowns late in the opening half. “I don’t think we had much trouble moving the ball all game, but we had a couple turnovers, including one right on the goalline where we put no points on the board after good drives. Getting those extra points gave us a bit of a cushion.”

Midway through the third quarter, Nicoletta picked up his third touchdown of the day, running the ball in from 23 yards out. A convert by Tuckett made it 30-0.

In the late stages of the third quarter, Provenzano picked up a six-yard touchdown run for the Colts to make it 36-0.

Defensively in the game for Korah, Provenzano had 3.5 tackles while Lucas Malcolm and Owen Trecartin had three tackles each.

A team known for it’s passing game, Barons quarterback Andrew Robillard completed just five of eight pass attempts for 32 yards in the game and threw an interception.

Defensively for the Barons, Nick Baldasaro had 12 tackles while James McGill had six and Caleb Shank had five.

The city title for Algonquin was the first for the school since 1981

“It was pretty awesome,” Algonquin coach Ryan Desbiens said of winning the city title. “We’ve had a few teams come close, but for us you talk about getting the monkey off your back, this was like getting the gorilla off your back.”

Desbiens added that, while the junior team has had some success, the senior team “has never quite reached that final goal.”

“To finally do it after so long was pretty historic in terms of North Bay football,” Desbiens added.

For the Colts, Saturday’s victory marks a NOSSA three-peat for the school in senior football, having won the title in 2018 and 2019 before COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 season.

The OFSAA game, which will see the Colts face Thunder Bay’s St. Ignatius High School next Saturday at Superior Heights locally, will also be an opportunity for Korah to potentially repeat as Northern Bowl champions and win the school’s third consecutive Bowl game in the process.

Prior to winning the Northern Bowl in 2019, Korah won the National Capital Bowl in 2018.