When it comes to capturing the essence of a summer men’s football final in the nickel city, few members of the Sudbury Spartans family are equipped with quite the same perspective as head coach and NFC (Northern Football Conference) Hall of Famer Junior Labrosse.

Virtually the entirety of his current Spartans’ roster were not even born when this franchise last hoisted the hardware in 1992. Labrosse was part of that team.

Still, regardless of their age, regardless of their background, one and all now involved understand exactly how special this summer has been – and what is at stake Saturday night when they face the Burlington Longhorns at 7:00 p.m. at the James Jerome Sports Complex in the championship final of the Ontario Power 5 Football League.

“Everyone seems to be meshing this year – even more than other years,” noted 28 year old slotback Owen Ingram, a native of Barrie who knew little to nothing of the sport until he connected with the Spartans, not long after his arrival in Sudbury some four years ago.

“We’ve got a great coaching staff and a lot of good, athletic guys,” Ingram added.

While the roster is teeming with interesting story-lines, the young man who played rugby in high-school and could not add football to his resume because it crossed directly into his initial passion for volleyball carries a pathway that is pretty much unique.

“Football is much more intense – and the equipment is very different,” said Ingram, offering a comparison to rugby. “It took a little bit of getting used to the forward motion of the ball versus only lateral or backwards motion – but athleticism-wise, it’s a pretty easy transition.”

The athleticism is where the parallels to many of his teammates exists – and particularly that deeply-rooted desire to maintain a high level of athleticism when most adults his age are moving towards far less demanding physical pursuits.

“I guess I am not old, by any means, but compared to the other guys here, I do see myself as an older guy,” said Ingram. “To get out here and compete at the level I do compete at, to sustain another season of six, seven or eight games, it just feels good.”

That mindset was at the heart of the Sudbury Spartans’ teams that accumulated no less than 18 league titles between 1952 and 1992. With several members of the ’92 team expected to be on hand on Saturday, there is truly nothing they would appreciate more than to see the storied franchise traditions carried forward by the likes of Ingram and his teammates that perhaps have followed a more conventional route to this point.

Twenty-four year old defensive line standout and fourth-year Spartan Tyson McFadden was a star running back with the Raiders in the fall of 2016, enjoying his second season of Joe MacDonald Youth Football League action. He would go on to earn all-star accolades as a linebacker with the Lo-Ellen Park Knights, all while layering even more valuable summer football experience via stints with the Sudbury Gladiators and .

These days, he is now a key cog right in the middle of the Spartans defensive front line, a placement where he has found a way to use his 5’10” rock-solid frame to his advantage. “If a guy is a lot taller than me, I find it a lot easier to get under him and push him back,” said McFadden.

“My job is to come off the ball fast, hit the guy hard and try and get my hands off him.”

It’s a job in which McFadden has excelled – and one in which he and the remaining members of the Spartans front seven will need to be at their very best to not get burned by the glut of Longhorns’ playmakers – led by wide receiver and triple threat Archelaus “A.J.” Jack.

“A.J. is fast, a really good receiver,” said McFadden. “As long as we can get pressure on them, get to them quick and don’t give him time to run 50 yards down the field, I think we’ll be good.”

Much like Ingram, McFadden noted that there is something a little extra at every level of involvement for every single one of the Sudbury Spartans’ gents in the summer of 2026. “Everybody has bought in a lot more,” he said. “The guys are really coming together, playing a lot harder.”

“And just guys growing; we had a really young team when I first started. We had some older guys, but most of the guys have been able to develop and get more accustomed to their positions, stuff like that.”

All of which has made life just a little bit easier for coach Labrosse as he and his staff look to put together the game plan necessary to defeat a Burlington team that is clearly on a roll, having won five straight. In fact, if you back out their 14-9 home field victory over the Spartans, the Longhorns outscored their remaining four opponents by a combined total of 138-13 during that stretch.

“Obviously, they have weapons on offense: great running backs, a good QB – and you’ve got A.J., who is a threat with anything he does – but they’ve got to play against our twelve,” said Labrosse. “We have to take care of us; we have to be us.”

There is little doubt that the former defensive back who amassed the second most interceptions in league history is drawing on memories of the Sid Forster heydays of the franchise, a time when a trip to the league final was the standard that needed to be achieved, year in and year out.

It’s a Spartans culture that he knows his current team can embrace. “If it hasn’t sunk in yet, it will when they get to the field on Saturday,” he said.