National Junior Football Champions
Year Inducted: 2024

The Ottawa Sooners entered the 1974 season having lost in the 1973 national final – their third defeat in the championship game within six years.

Ottawa came out on fire to start the season. A crowd of roughly 1,000 at the Mooney’s Bay Sports Complex watched the Sooners win their fifth game in a row on Aug. 31.

They tasted defeat for the first time in their next game against Verdun, but rebounded for a 61-0 trouncing of Durham, followed by two more wins and a loss to finish the regular season 8-2.

In the Eastern Canadian playoff quarter-finals, Ottawa got revenge with a 27-17 triumph over Verdun.

Following what head coach Jim Chiarelli called “the worst game a team I’ve coached has ever played” in the first end of a two-game semi-final against Niagara, the Sooners responded with a 59-7 romp back at home to run away with the series. Ottawa rushed for 319 yards and passed just twice in the game.

In the first leg of the East final against Hamilton, J.T. Hay booted five field goals for a 22-13 Sooners win at home. The team then bought 32 pairs of cleats in preparation for their first game on artificial turf at Ivor Wynne Stadium. Ottawa lost the game 17-11, but won the series 33-30 thanks to big holds by the defence in the late stages.

The Sooners landed in rainy Vancouver to visit the host Meralomas for the Little Grey Cup game on Nov. 23, 1974. The national championship final was played before 2,500 fans at Empire Stadium and broadcast on CBC.

It was the Sooners’ 16th game of the season, which helped the team build toughness and poise, their coach said prophetically in the lead-up to the big game.

Ottawa built an 8-1 lead in the first quarter as Torindo Panetta blocked a punt and Mike Morris recovered it in the end zone. Vancouver got a field goal in the second quarter but the Sooners took full control after halftime.

Fullback Ed Raicevic scored Ottawa’s second touchdown late in the third quarter, while J.T. Hay finished with two converts and a single, and the team got a safety off another blocked punt.

Ottawa quarterback Mark McCloskey was named player of the game and the Sooners’ defence held the Meralomas off the scoreboard for the full second half to prevail 17-4 and lift the Little Grey Cup for the first time.

“I never thought we would get this far,” six-year Sooners veteran Doug Sonnenburg told Ottawa Sport Hall of Fame reporter Tom Casey of the Ottawa Citizen after the game. “I didn’t think we had the talent nor the size this year, but we were hungrier.”

The Sooners received a hero’s welcome at the Ottawa airport and were later presented with Hudson Bay coats and commemorative plaques on behalf of the municipal and provincial governments.