'Tough people win'

After nearly 25 years, the Korah Colts have another senior football title to add to the mantle.

A 2-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was the difference as the Colts beat the Superior Heights Steelhawks 14-7 on Friday night at Superior Heights to win the city title and earn a berth in the Northern Ontario Secondary School Association (NOSSA) title game on Nov. 11.

The win ends a perfect run locally for the Colts, who went 6-0 in the regular season before beating White Pines last week to advance to the city final.

For Korah Coach Tom Annett, a narrow 26-23 win over Superior Heights on Oct. 12, a game in which the Steelhawks led 21-0 at halftime, was a motivating factor in the Colts win on Friday night.

“That was the best thing that could have happened to us,” Annett said. “If that didn’t happen, I don’t think we would have won this game. We were getting a little too comfortable. (Superior Heights) did some different stuff in that game and we had some time to adjust and prepare for it this time around. That was the best thing that could have happened to this team was some adversity.”

Patteri, who was named the game MVP, finished the day with 76 yards rushing on 16 carries while quarterback Jordan Robinson-Wright ran the ball 12 times for 66 yards. Nik Gervasi had 63 yards rushing on 12 carries.

“That’s been our bread and butter all year and it was no different today,” Annett said of the Colts running game, which produced both majors as Darian Belkosky had the other Korah touchdown on a one-yard run in the second quarter. “(Superior Heights) did a good job stopping it in the last game but we knew if we had a little bit of time to prepare, guys were going to hit that, and they did.”

Defensively for the Colts, Jacob Jurich had six solo tackles and three assisted tackles. Belkosky added four solo tackles and an assisted tackle as well. Tyler Albert came up with a key interception for the Colts with under two minutes to go in the contest to help seal the win.

“We kept playing tough and we wore them down a little bit in the second half,” Annett said. “Our defence has been solid all year and was again today.”

Friday was a proud moment for Annett, who credited the support of the Korah administration, who “showed tremendous support for the whole program.”

The win ended a four-year run of city titles for Superior Heights, which included a 22-20 win over Korah last season.

“These kids have worked so hard, not even just this season, these guys committed from the end of last season until now and that’s really shown how hard they worked in the off-season and during the season,” said Annett. “I’m just so proud of them. Our mantra all year was ‘Tough people win’ and we showed incredible toughness today.”

The lone major for the Steelhawks came on a broken play early in the second quarter when Superior Heights attempted to punt in Korah territory, After the initial snap was fumbled, the kick did get off and proceeded to deflect off a Korah player on the Colts goalline. Joe Rosso would recover the ball for the major, which gave the Steelhawks the lead at the time.

Rosso had a big day defensively for the Steelhawks with eight solo tackles, five assisted tackles and the fumble recovery. Caden Rogers chipped in with five solo tackles and four assisted tackles while Joe Trudeau had five solo tackles and three assisted tackles for the Steelhawks.

Cooper Laframboise had 50 yards rushing for the Steelhawks on 15 carries offensively.

The junior final between Korah and St. Mary’s is set for Saturday afternoon at Superior Heights.

The junior Colts finished in top spot in the regular season thanks to a 5-1 record while the Knights finished second at 4-2.