Photo Credit: Freeze Frame Photos
The Sault Steelers are still searching for their first victory of the 2026 Ontario Power 5 Football League (OP5FL) season after dropping a 37-13 decision to the visiting Sarnia Imperials on Saturday evening at Rocky DiPietro Field in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Steelers entered the contest looking to rebound from a 30-9 season-opening road loss to the Sudbury Spartans on May 23rd. Meanwhile, the Imperials arrived in the Soo carrying momentum after opening their campaign with a hard-fought 15-8 victory over the Oakville Longhorns.
Despite a spirited effort in front of their home crowd, the Steelers were unable to contain the Imperials’ offense as Sarnia pulled away during a competitive contest. The game featured stretches of back-and-forth action, but the visitors capitalized on key opportunities and ultimately secured the 24-point victory to improve to 2-0 on the season.
The loss drops the Steelers to 0-2 through the opening two weeks of the OP5FL schedule. While the result was not what the Steelers were hoping for, there were positive moments throughout the contest as the team continued to build chemistry and gain valuable experience early in the season.
Steeler coach Michael Reid told Saultsports that “the biggest factor, as has been the case for a while, is lack of preparation. We had a bad week of practice, so our first quarter essentially acts as our live reps. With this week and last, we dug ourselves a hole early with mental mistakes and got going late. Coming in more prepared will help us get started with the fire that we’re capable of.”
With two games now behind them, the Steelers will turn their attention to a familiar opponent as they prepare for a rematch with the Sudbury Spartans. The two clubs met in the season opener on May 23rd, with the Spartans earning a 30-9 victory in Sudbury.
“Despite this, there were lots of positives. Primarily, we fought until the end and really stepped up in all facets of the game in the second half. All of our mistakes were mental, minor, and fixable, which are easy to clean up. Furthermore, Blake Ianelli and Ronan Provenzano proved they’re the best players in the league at their respective positions. I’m excited to see them continue to dominate. We have Sudbury at home next week which we’re treating as a must win. These past two games have been a big wake up call for us, and we cannot keep giving teams free points in the first quarter due to our lack of practice preparation. We’ll be firing on cylinders.”
Visit Freeze Frame Photos by Bob Davies photo gallery of the Sarnia Imperials versus Sault Steelers in OP5FL action.
The Steelers will have an opportunity to even the score on Saturday, June 6th, when they host the Spartans at Rocky DiPietro Field. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in what will be the only OP5FL game on the league schedule that weekend.
Looking to secure their first win of the campaign, the Steelers will aim to use the home-field advantage and lessons learned from their opening two contests as they continue their pursuit of a breakthrough performance in front of their supporters.
