Welcome athletes, parents and families, alumni and all Canadian Junior Football League fans to the 52nd season of the Ontario Football Conference (OFC).
We have all been waiting for the start of another year of spectacular football and this year the OFC champion will host the Canadian Championship final (Canadian Bowl).
This year promises to bring a lot of exciting competitive football to our communities across Ontario. You will see the league has continued its growth with a new community team from Kitchener-Waterloo (Twin City Predators) in our CJFL junior division. Plus we have new faces amongst our coaching staff: Chris Triantafilou (former head coach of the University of Waterloo) will lead the expansion Twin Cities team. Steve Lalonde (former head coach of Mount Allison University) will head the St. Leonard Cougars and Neil Lumsden (former CFL all-star) will take command of the Burlington Braves. Joining Mike LaChance (head coach) in Windsor will be Mike Morencie (former head coach of the University of Windsor) as defensive coordinator. Returning for another crack at the Canadian Bowl will be Andy McEvoy (former head coach of York University) to lead the 2009 OFC champion Ottawa Sooners and Jason Hayes (head coach of the 2010 OFC champion Hamilton Hurricanes). Brad Winder returns (CJFL coach of the year in 2009) to lead the London Beefeaters and Mark Houlder (former Toronto Argonaut) will be looking to accomplish a playoff berth in his second season with the Brampton Bears.
We will continue our education in doping control with extension of the CCES (Canadian Center for Ethics in Sport) doping online course to now include our junior, varsity and junior varsity divisions. This marks us as the only junior/minor football organization in the country that has adopted the CCES for our players at the younger divisions. Combined with our emphasis on player safety and football skills development through the Long Term Athlete Development Program at Football Canada, this establishes the OFC as one of the finest amateur youth football programs in Canada.
You will see on our website www.ofcfootball.com a brand new look! This is largely due to the hard working efforts of our new Vice President of the Varsity Division, Ed Tilley from Oakville, and our new media coordinator, Sam Preston from Brantford. This new website allows us to bring you up to date information on your favourite players and teams, and introduce better graphics and videos. Please submit your items of interest and help us continue to improve our communication with you.
This summer we have expanded our cable TV broadcast schedule and are looking at other avenues to get our games out to you. Keep checking for updates on games that are being broadcast in your area.
The level of coaching continues to rise to new levels as the junior division now boasts four former CIS head coaches, many former CIS assistant coaches, and 2 former CFL players. It should come therefore as no surprise that 8 of our players were selected for rookie CFL camps with the Hamilton Tiger Cats and Toronto Argonauts, and many others have sought to further their education and play football in the CIS. We are very proud of 3 individuals, Rob Varello of London Beefeaters, Jay Diston of Burlington Braves and Jamal George of Hamilton Hurricanes who not only made the main camp but played in 2 exhibition games for the CFL Hamilton Tiger Cats. They have now returned for their last year in junior and you will get to see these CFL players of the future this year. Of 10 CJFL players drafted this year into the CFL at the CIS university draft, four were from the OFC.
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[*] Michael Carter by the BC Lions with the 19th pick in the third round. Mike played for the Windsor AKO Fratmen in 2005. He was an Ontario Football Conference all-star at both defensive back and return specialist. He returned 3 punts for TDs.
[*] Christopher Milo by the Saskatchewan Roughriders with the 30th pick in the 4th round. Chris played for the St Leonard Cougars where he was the Ontario Football Conference all star place kicker in both 2005 and 2006. In 2006 he was also the OFC all star punter and CJFL All Canadian punter.
[*] Jared Manchelenko with the 45th pick in the 6th round by the Calgary Stampeders. Jared played for both the Burlington Braves and the St Leonard Cougars. Jared was the OFC Rookie of the Years in 2005 with the Cougars.
[*] Youssey Pierre with the 46th pick in the 6th round by the Edmonton Eskimos. Youssey played for the St Leonard Cougars. He was an OFC All Star receiver in both 2005 and 2006.
[*]Also Ludovic Kashendi suited up for the Saskatchewan Roughriders, who is also a former St. Leonard Cougar.
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We continue to work with Ontario’s colleges and universities as we believe strongly in higher education for our players. So if you or someone you know is looking to improve their skills and follow a development path with football that could lead to a higher education and a shot at the pros look no further! This is the place to be.
So for now get ready to get out and support your local team as another exciting season in OFC football begins! Good luck to all of our teams in 2011. I look forward to seeing you at the CJFL Canadian Bowl on Nov. 12 which will be played at the home of the OFC champion.
Doug Dittmer
President, Ontario Football Conference
Advocating for football prospects one story at a time.
