St. Mike's and Northern are traditional powerhouses

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And then there were two...

The CFL has its Grey Cup, the NFL has its Super Bowl, Canadian Interuniversity Sport has its Vanier Cup, and Ontario high schools have their Bowl day at the Rogers Centre.

And, amazingly, two North Toronto schools were still in the running for the latter, and slated to play Metro Bowl semifinal games yesterday (Thursday) at Esther Shiner Stadium in North York. Both games went beyond our Friday edition press deadlines, but please check online at InsideToronto.com for results.

The semifinal winners meet this Wednesday, Dec. 3, 8 p.m., in the annual Metro Bowl at Rogers Centre.

What's not surprising is the identity of the two North Toronto schools involved - St. Michael's College and Northern Secondary.

They are both football powerhouses - and they are the only two Toronto high school senior football programs yet to hang up their cleats for the year.

St. Mike's, on Bathurst Street at St. Clair Avenue, are the two-time defending Metro Bowl champs and have won four of the past six titles.

The Kerry Blues won their Conference of Independent Schools of Ontario Athletic Association championship 27-7 over St. Andrew's College back on Nov. 5, after a 45-21 semifinal win over Villanova College on Oct. 31.

"We haven't played in almost a month, so that's a problem. It's not a positive thing, that's for sure. Two weeks would be plenty. When you're looking at three and a half to four weeks, it becomes a little difficult to keep the intensity up and the focus of the players," noted St. Mike's coach Paul Forbes.

The only good thing about it, he conceded, is recovery time for those players in Sick Bay. "That was helpful for healing, but two weeks is enough. Obviously there's going to be some rust on the players."

Northern Secondary, on Mount Pleasant Road just north of Eglington Avenue, won their Toronto District Secondary School Athletic Association (representing both public and Catholic high schools) championship 31-10 over Birchmount Park CI on Nov. 20, after a 10-0 city semifinal win over Richview CI on Nov. 14.

The Northern Red Knights rebounded from a heartbreaking city semifinal loss the previous year to Birchmount Park.

St. Mike's and Northern did not draw each other in the semifinals yesterday (Thursday) which created the tantalizing possibility that this Wednesday's Metro Bowl at the Rogers Centre - which is set up for the Buffalo Bills NFL game against the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, Dec. 7 - could be an all-North Toronto final.

You can bet, however, that neither team were looking beyond their semifinal games. At this level there's no easy mark.

St. Mike was slated to kick things off at 11 a.m. against Huron Heights from Newmarket, the York Region Athletic Association champs. Northern was slated to follow at 1:30 p.m. against Donald Wilson from Whitby, the Lake Ontario Secondary School Athletic Association champs.

St. Mike's needed no introduction to Huron Heights as the two teams met in last year's Metro Bowl, with St. Mike's holding on for a 16-14 win.

Coach Forbes was expecting another tight game.

"They're a very strong team again with a dominant offence that uses the option very effectively," he said, in an interview prior to the game.

As for his own team, coach Forbes said, "I don't think we're as strong as we have been the last two years but we're still good, overall this year."

He singled out a couple of the team leaders.

"Offensively, Brendan Morgan, our running back, is our offensive player to go to.

"Defensively, all year long, it's been our defensive line - the four guys there (Martin Colangelo, John Miniaci, Derek Wiggan, and Domenic DiCarlo)."

Northern coach Dan Dominico could not be reached prior to our press deadlines.

This Wednesday's Metro Bowl, slated for 8 p.m., is one of five high school bowls on tap throughout the day at the Rogers Centre, representing all regions of Ontario.

The schedule is as follows: 9 a.m. Northern Bowl; 11:45 a.m. Western Bowl; 2:30 p.m. National Capital Bowl; 5:15 p.m. Golden Horseshoe Bowl; and 8 p.m. Metro Bowl.