How can their possibly be so much to talk about in a football game that finishes with a final score of 10-9?

To be clear, the start of the Ontario Power Five Football League championship final between the visiting Burlington Longhorns and the hometown Sudbury Spartans provided little in the way of premonition of the drama that was about to unfold as the Longhorns held on for the win in front of a large, enthusiastic and highly disappointed nickel city crowd.

With both teams showing signs of nerves early on, the first quarter was fraught with silly penalties (including a solid handful of procedure and offside calls) as well as three turnovers. Mere plays into the contest, Sudbury linebacker Andrew Kilby hauled in his first of two interceptions on the night, only to see the offense return the favour when the ball was stripped from a Spartans running back by Jorel Junior Jorrisain within the next minute or two.

With the game being played between the respective 35 yard lines, the door first opened for Sudbury when a high snap to the Burlington punter was recovered by Dalton Wilcox, shortening the field for the Spartans notably. Unfortunately, an unnecessary roughness penalty took the first place finishers out of field goal range as the contest remained scoreless at the end of 15 minutes of play – with the first quarter easily the lengthiest of the evening.

Playmaking began to gain a foothold in quarter two as a Burlington march allowed the Longhorns to open the scoring with a 24 yard field goal from Ovi Coca, with the Spartans answering a few minutes later when Braeden Beggs boomed a 42 yard three-pointer on a kick that had all the makings of a fifty yarder.

Though few if any would know it at the time, the final scoring for Burlington would come with the clock stationed at 38.8 seconds in quarter two as quarterback Joshua Madden connected with wide receiver Garth Pinnock from 12 yards out, with Coca nailing the convert that would ultimately stand as the game-winning point.

The first half would not wind down without a little chaos as a trick play for the Spartans saw Steven Sola connect with Connor Campeau on a slotback option, with the latter fighting his way inside the five – only to have the ball wrestled away at the last minute by Burlington defensive back Cory Viola.

Down 10-3 in quarter three, the Sudbury offense would enjoy some success either with quarterback Adam Rocha scrambling with the ball (he accounted for 78 of the Spartans 85 rushing yards) or with short, underneath patters to targets Braeden Beggs (6 catches – 68 yards), Victor Paajanen (4 catches – 46 yards) or Connor Campeau (5 catches – 84 yards).

Still, it was a timely interception from Kilby which set the team up first and ten from the Burlington 25 yard line that truly energized the crowd. “I was on the opposite side of the field, so when I opened up to the coverage opposite my responsibility, the quarterback just kind of threw in my direction,” said Kilby.

“I was lucky enough to capitalize and set our offense up as best as I could.”

A few plays later, Rocha found Paajanen near the back of the end zone with an eight yard pass, making the score 10-9. When a bad snap botched the ensuing PAT and nearly a quarter and a half still to play, absolutely no one envisioned this being the final score.

Sustaining drives, however, proved to be an elusive goal for both teams and though Sudbury may have needed just one crack from the Burlington forty or better to set Beggs up for a game-winning boot, it appeared not to be ... until the final minute of the game.

Taking possession deep in their own zone, the Spartans strung together a sideline pattern to Victor Paajanen that moved the chains to midfield and then a 31 yard pass to Beggs, somewhere around the thirty. Unfortunately, the Spartans had used their final timeout just a few plays earlier, unaware that a Longhorns DB had been felled by leg cramps.

With thoughts of a field goal attempt with 24 seconds to play certainly in the minds of coach Junior Labrosse and company, one more play was attempted – and disaster struck. A short pass was either deflected or deflected off the helmet of a Longhorns lineman, straight into the air, with defensive tackle Michael Huggup wrapping his arms around the sphere, effectively ending the game.

“I’ve been to Sudbury so many times and it’s the greatest place to come and play football,” noted Burlington head coach Dan McAlonas after the game. “There’s so much history here. From the coaching staff to the players, they are nothing but a class act – and the crowd tonight was absolutely unbelievable.”

“We’re happy to finally get our program in the position where we can compete – and to see a team like Sudbury come in and command real respect, it just strengthens our league.”

Those words of praise, however, did little to ease the sting of defeat that Labrosse and company were dealing with in the aftermath of the one that got away. “It’s heart-breaking,” said Labrosse, his voice cracking with emotion. “As a coach, I’m just coaching. But as a player, I know the sacrifice that these guys make.”

“You put the family aside; you put your buddies aside,” Labrosse continued. “You’re practicing in the heat, battling, playing through injuries. I know – I’ve been there.”

“When you get older, you appreciate what it means to play in these games a whole lot more,” said Andrew Kilby, a graduate of St Benedict CSS in 2023 who has been with the Waterloo Warriors the past few years.

“You’re putting in your blood, sweat and tears, you feel the impact of these games on the body a lot longer, you love these guys to death,” he continued. “So it hurts a lot more with a game like this.”