Metro Bowl

1991

Date: November 27th

Venue: SkyDome, Toronto

Richview Saints 42, Central Tech Blues 24

Quarter-finals
Central Tech Blues 48, Markham Marauders 35
St. Michaels Kerry Blues 20, Philip Pocock Pirates 10
Henry Street 7, Moira Trojans (Belleville) 1
Richview Saints 43, West Hill Warriors 6

Semi-finals
Central Tech Blues 35, St. Michaels Kerry Blues 27
Richview Saints 36, Henry Street Hawks 19

Championship

Richview Saints 42, Central Tech Blues 24

The Toronto Star published the following report by David Grossman on November 28th.

Roger Reynolds has spent long hours building the Richview Collegiate Saints into high school football's most consistent winner in Metro.

He collected the talent, designed the offence and oversaw it all with an enthusiastic personality that didn't win him many friends because of jealousy.

Reynolds was smart and would say so. He believed tension made his team better and knew he'd get a chance to prove the Saints were No. 1 in town.

Well, the veteran skipper, who didn't get a single vote for coach of the year, finally saw the hard work pay off yesterday with a golden gift at SkyDome.

His Richview squad, which scored on its first five possessions, dominated a highly touted Central Tech team en route to a 42-24 victory in the Metro Bowl championship before an announced crowd of 3,560.

Richview 42, Central 24

It was not only the first Metro title for the 11-0 Saints in the 10-year history of the playoff, but it also deprived Central (10-1) from carting home the trophy for an unprecedented third time.

"We're in glory land; I knew we had a darn good team, but this was exceptional," said Reynolds. "Did we not dominate? Did we not prove we have exceptional athletes? Did we not warn them we'd pass and the game would be no contest? I've never seen a more mature bunch of players with talent. Now everyone else knows what I've been saying all year."

While Reynolds was enjoying the post-game celebrations and congratulating quarterback Paul Martin - named The Toronto Star MVP after throwing for three touchdowns and scoring two more - losing coach Chuck Wakefield found it hard to believe his team would suffer such a collapse.

"What I was afraid of the most happened. We weren't mentally prepared; there were more mental mistakes in the first half than the entire season. Defensively we were bad, couldn't stop anyone and got far down too quick. (Richview) just had a top-notch team and wouldn't give us the ball."

He was right.

Martin had the Saints up 14-0 before the fans had a chance to settle into their seats. The City of Toronto champs, who ran only 11 plays in the first half, finally got on the scoreboard with 12 seconds gone in the second quarter. But Richview responded quickly with touchdowns by John Gal, Ray Skeete and Troy Russell, leaving Central singing the Blues at halftime, down 35-6.

The 19-year-old Martin, good on 10 of 16 passes for 198 yards, also gained 42 yards on seven carries. But he didn't think the game would be a rout.

"Incredible, it was so smooth and I didn't think it would be so easy," said the 6-foot-3 rookie pivot who transferred across the city from Scarborough's Stephen Leacock Collegiate.

Even Dan Stevens, Central's sure-handed receiver, had a rough afternoon before an entourage of U.S. and Canadian college scouts in town for Saturday's Vanier Cup university championship. Stevens did get a touchdown to bring the Blues back to 35-18, but he also dropped back-to-back passes that could have led to other scores.