Photo Bob Davies

On Saturday, July 23rd in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, the (2-2-1) Sault Steelers took to the field to take on the visiting (5-0) Sudbury Spartans for the Steelers 50th Anniversary Game in Northern Football Conference action at Rocky DiPietro Field.

6:10 into the opening quarter, Nick Rideout finds the uprights for the Spartans with a 21 yard field goal to give Sudbury a 3 – 0 lead. Spartan quarterback Adam Rocha fires a 20 yard pass to Victor Paajanen to run a 55 yard run touchdown carry to bring Sudbury’s lead to 7 – 3 after a Rideout convert at 2:49 of the first quarter. Nine seconds into the second quarter, Rocha finds Paajanen in the Sault end zone to increase the visitors lead to 14 – 3 after a Rideout convert at the 11:59 mark of the quarter. With 33.1 seconds remaining in the first half, Steeler quarterback Ryan Yost finds Taylor Holub in the endzone with a three yard pass to pull the hosts with five to send the game into halftime 14 – 9 for the Spartans.

Yost fires a 13 yard pass for Holub to run another 13 yards to give the Steelers a 15 – 14 lead. Jesse Hill finds the uprights pass for the convert to give the Sault a 16 – 14 lead at 2:56 of the third quarter. Rocha and Paajanen combine for another Spartan touchdown at 13:10 of the final quarter with a 37 yard pass and a Paajanen 17 yard carry to give Sudbury a 21 – 16 lead. Alonzo Clarke rushes for a Steeler three major at 10:51 of the quarter to bring the Sault’s lead to 22 – 21. Jesse Hill finds Holub in the Spartan end zone for a Steeler two point conversion to increase the lead to 24 – 21. At 4:52 of the quarter, Sudbury tackles Clarke in the Sault end zone for a single point to close the gap to only two for the Spartans. With time ticking down and 1:51 left in Saturday’s contest, Rideout kicks a 15 yard field goal to give the visitors a one point lead to bring the game to 25 – 24 Spartans. With only 50.9 seconds remaining in the game and the Spartans winless streak on the line, Hill scores a 20 yard field goal for the Sault to give the Steelers their third win of the season with a 27 – 25 win over the Spartans in front of the hometown crowd.

Visit Bob Davies photo gallery of the Sudbury Spartans versus Sault Steelers.

The Steelers will now wait for the 2022 playoff seedings to see who they will meet in a NFC Semi-final on August 6th.