SCHOOL FOOTBALL FINAL TONIGHT

It's a much-anticipated city final for senior high school football bragging rights as the St. Mary's Knights and Sir James Dunn Eagles get set to wage war to determine Sault Ste. Marie's best of the best. Game time is 7:30 p.m. tonight at Rocky DiPietro Field as St. Mary's tries to extend an unbeaten season and Sir James Dunn looks to atone a 15-14 regular-season loss to the Knights. The Knights and Eagles are fresh from surprisingly easy semi-final wins, which were in contrast to a regular season that, for the most part, featured a number of close games. St. Mary's shattered Korah's vaunted West End defence in a 42-0 destruction of the Colts in one semi-final last week, while the Eagles again employed former coach John Kovich's legendary ground attack in a 28-0 exclamation of the Bawating Braves in the other playoff. While St. Mary's, led by head coach Marty Smith, a former high school quarterback himself, is more of a passing team than SJD, the Knights can also run the ball effectively. Knights to remember include quarterback Anthony Amadio, receivers Joey Lamon and Andrew Ross and running backs Adam Zuccato and Mark (The Bus) Palombi. Eagles' coach Ken White, on the other hand, likes to go to the ground game playbook that Kovich first established more than 30 years ago. Nigel Milne is the Eagles' featured back, but young D.J. Idehen can provide a change of pace with his deft speed and agility. Both teams play well on the other side of the ball, though it's the Eagles who have the "name" defence led by linebackers Scott Beaumont, Dan Kennedy and Ryan Zanatta. The winner of tonight's game will represent the Sault at NOSSA here on Sat. Nov. 2.