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Travelling Trojans
By Reuben Villagracia
Tuesday, November 24, 2009

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Trojans quarterback Murray Thiessen fires a ball during passing drills at the Sports Dome on Monday.

For a high school football program that ran roughshod over Thunder Bay throughout the 1990s, the Churchill Trojans find themselves in brand new territory.
Churchill has shaken off the recent thrill of winning its first senior city title in 12 years and now sets its sights on the Sir James Dunn Eagles of Sault Ste. Marie at the Northern Bowl.
The game goes Wednesday morning at Toronto‘s Rogers Centre.
“As a coaching staff we‘ve been to a lot of finals and it‘s nice to finally get to one of these (Northern Bowls),” said head coach Mike Doromko, whose Trojans (8-1) avenged a heartbreaking loss in last year‘s city final with a 23-21 win over top-ranked St. Patrick on Nov. 14. “We‘re excited and ready to go.”
After the Trojans‘ last win in 1997, which capped off a run of five in a row, there were no high-profile games in southern Ontario for the Thunder Bay champion to join, making the allure of reaching this level and being scouted by Canadian universities more satisfying.
“That‘s pretty much what we‘ve wanted even more for the whole year,” said Churchill running back Justin Grochowski, who led the team with 11 touchdowns but missed the second half of the final against the Saints with an injured ankle. “I‘m really confident we have a good chance at winning.”
Doromko held Grochowski out of practice last week, including the Trojans‘ final workout Monday at the Sports Dome.
Doromko said his senior tailback will “definitely” be in the line-up come game time.
Grochowski hasn‘t been the Trojans‘ only weapon on offence. In the summer, Doromko moved Murray Thiessen to quarterback from receiver and slid Spencer Stadey from pivot to fullback. The shake-up – and the return of wide receiver Brandon Myketa after a year off from football – has resulted in an attack with plenty of options.
“(Thiessen) has been a nice surprise for us. He‘s stepped in and run that offence very well,” Doromko said after being impressed with Thiessen‘s composure with Grochowski injured and the Trojans trailing the Saints in the second half. “Everybody is watching (Grochowski) and all of a sudden there‘s (Thiessen) and (Stadey) running around.”
Opposing Thiessen will be Eagles fifth-year quarterback Mike Campbell, who threw four touchdowns in his team‘s league championship game against West Ferris.
As for the rest of the team, Grochowski said he has a good understanding of what to expect after watching game tape of Sir James Dunn last week.
“We‘ve dealt with worse than that,” he said.

Notes: Thunder Bay schools are 2-3 at the Northern Bowl since the game‘s inception in 2004. . . . St. Mary‘s (Sault Ste. Marie) defeated Hammarskjold 31-8 in last year‘s Northern Bowl. . . . Former Thunder Bay high school stars Frank Pankewich (Hammarskjold) and Seamus Posthuma (Westgate) currently play for Queen‘s and Wilfrid Laurier, respectively, after being scouted in past Northern Bowls.
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