The Sudbury U18 Spartans girls tackle football team dominated their league this past summer, running the table with eight straight wins, including a 38-22 victory over the Peel Panthers in the championship encounter.

With five straight wins to their credit including a 68-8 shellacking of Team Québec in the tournament final, Team Ontario also looked dominant in taking on all comers at the Football Canada U18 Women's Championship in Regina earlier this summer.

This is not a coincidence.

For as much as Robin Price, Rebone Okolie and Olaterere Awosika were a big part of the U18 Spartans success this summer, with Gia Rocca one of the stars on the Sudbury U16 side, all four locals were front and centre in Saskatchewan.

Making her first appearance at nationals, Okolie has shown plenty of promise on both sides of the line, having played linebacker, defensive end and defensive tackle as well as feeling completely at ease helping out with her team on offense.

"I've been told by girls tackle football coaches that I was made for the sport," said the 17 year-old grade 12 student at St Benedict Catholic Secondary School of South African and Nigerian descent.

"I have the qualities they are looking for," continued Okolie. "They always need strength on the line. Being able to have the strength to push through, I think that's an ability that has really benefitted teams that I have been on recently."

While Okolie performed primarily as an offensive lineman at nationals, it was her quick thinking defensive mindset that the Spartans most appreciated this summer. "It's my ability to read and attack," said the young woman whose family moved to Canada from Africa when she was eight years old.

"Just ebeing able to see what is going on in front of me and not have to pause and ask myself how can i handle it - just knowing what to do. The quarterback only has a limited amount of time. In that small ten second pocket, it's important to know how to handle the situation."

And for as much as flipping to offense does require a slightly different perspective, it did not take Rebone Okolie all that long at all to fully understand her new role.

"On the first couple of plays, I had to adjust," she said. "On offense, I had to remind myself that my first priority is my quarterback. No one gets past me and touches my quarterback. I have one job."

"I know the play; I know my block; so just put it in motion."

With the exception of a small handful of plays during her tenure with the Spartans, Robin Price has not been required to pull double duty. A premier linebacker in the province, the Sault Ste Marie native who has spent the past two summers in Sudbury is far too valuable in the role she first embraced playing in the Sault Minor Football League with the boys.

"Playing with the guys, I couldn't just hit them and they would fall over," said Price, a 17 year-old senior at Korah Collegiate & Vocational School. "I needed to learn how to tackle properly to succeed."

A textbook tackler, Price noted that it was not the difference in physicality that most struck her as she transitioned from her grade nine year with the junior Colts over to the first of three stints with Team Ontario the following summer.

"It required an adjustment because I was also moving from 12 v 12 to 6 v 6," said Price. "I had never played it before. Girls can hit hard too - but I was used to taking the big hits from the guys."

An absolute standout in a summer season that saw her team outscore the opposition 417-90, Price was able to find a way to continually raise the bar, even if a particular game was never in doubt.

"For me, personally, no matter the level I am at, I always think I could do better," she said. "If I don't have a good practice one day, I will go back the next day and work on what I did not succeed at - even if it was just a small thing."

Heading into grade 12 but eyeing possible post-secondary studies in Law Enforcement or Criminal Psychology, Price is open to the option of playing varsity rugby, given that girls tackle football is simply not an option in that realm.

"It is different, but there are some basics that are the same," she said. "I would have to learn it."