Nelson High School's senior football team is Halton's champion once more. The Lords beat the Abbey Park Eagles of Oakville 49-13 in the final of the Halton Secondary School Athletic Association (HSSAA), the body that runs high school sports in the region, on Thursday, Nov. 12, at Ron Joyce Stadium at McMaster University. After a slow start, the Lords put the game away in the second half.
It is the 28th championship in the Burlington school's history, the team posted on Instagram after the game.
See the post on Instagram
The title caps a season of control. The Lords entered the playoffs as the HSSAA's No. 1 seed after a win over Hayden. They had also beaten Abbey Park in Oakville in the first week of the regular season, and against the other three semi-finalists Nelson never won by fewer than 34 points.
| Game | Score |
|---|---|
| Regular season, Sept. 24, at Abbey Park | Nelson 49, Abbey Park 7 |
| Regular season | Nelson 41, Hayden 7 |
| Semi-final, Nov. 5 | Nelson 45, Georgetown 0 |
| Final, Nov. 12, at McMaster | Nelson 49, Abbey Park 13 |
For Abbey Park, just reaching the game was a first. The Eagles were playing in their first top-tier Halton final after upsets of Georgetown and, in the semi-final, Frank Hayden, which they beat 26-16.
Nelson moves on to the Golden Horseshoe Athletic Conference (GHAC) playoffs, where it plays a semi-final on Nov. 18 against the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic board champion, either the SJH Newman Cardinals or the Bishop Ryan Celtics. The GHAC championship is set for Nov. 24, and the team's schedule lists the OFSAA Football Bowl Series, Ontario's provincial high school bowl games, for Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 at Richardson Stadium at Queen's University.
