St. Clair Football Ends Season in Kelowna
The St. Clair Saints Football team (10-1) suffered from a tale of two halves and ended their season in the Canadian Junior Football League National semi-final game dropping a 34-19 decision to the Okanagan Sun (13-0) at Apple Bowl Stadium in Kelowna Saturday afternoon.
Rains in the Okanagan Valley the previous day and overnight made the field conditions soggy so the teams played tight through the first quarter with neither side threatening points helping keep the game scoreless entering the second frame. The Saints broke the seal early in the 2nd quarter when quarterback Matthew Guenette (Windsor, ON/Holy Names) threw a fade pattern to the back right corner of the endzone letting Jayden Shallow (Toronto, ON) make a wonderful catch on a 25-yard touchdown. After trading possessions St. Clair put together a sustained drive that led to running back MJ Doyle-Marshall (Airdrie, AB) going untouched across the threshold for a 1-yard score with 8:51 to go in the second quarter.
Soon after the Saints defense continued to assert themselves pushing Okanagan backwards which resulted in a conceded 2-point safety by the Sun punter who was straddling the goal line making it 16-0 with 3:32 left in the second quarter. After gaining possession back St. Clair maneuvered back into field goal range where placekicker Joe Newton-Grain (Oxford, England) split the uprights from 25 yards out with 1:33 left in the half allowing the Saints to take a 19-0 lead into the locker room.
The second half started with some open possessions in both directions but during a St. Clair drive an errant shotgun snap resulted in a fumble return for a touchdown trimming their lead to 19-7 with 8:03 left in the third quarter which gave Okanagan some life. The Sun added a field goal with 39 seconds to go in the third further reducing the gap to 19-10. On the ensuing St. Clair series some quarterback pressure by Okanagan forced a slippery pass to fall into the defender’s hands who returned it 21 yards for another major making the score 19-17 with 13 seconds left in the third.
With momentum on their side Okanagan was able to work for a field and overtook the Saints 20-19 with 12:34 left in the fourth and a single point on the following kickoff put them ahead 21-19. St. Clair was forced to punt on the next drive and Okanagan returned it for a 73-yard backbreaking touchdown and a 28-19 lead with 11:26 to go in the game. The Saints could not prolong their offensive drives in the second half only producing two first downs. Okanagan was able to salt away the game while adding two more field goals down the stretch to complete the scoring.
St. Clair generated more net offense (345 yards) than Okanagan (322) in the contest but three second half turnovers by the Saints could not be overcome. The rushing advantage also went to St. Clair who outgained Okanagan 134-86 while the passing yards were nearly identical in total at 235 for the Saints and 236 for the Sun.
Guenette finished with 235 passing yards completing 9-of-23 while trying to find the handle on a wet ball all afternoon but added 15 yards on the ground for the Saints to go with his lone touchdown in the air. Running back Doyle-Marshall (Airdrie, AB) had an impressive afternoon rushing 105 yards on 20 carries for St. Clair. Jayden Shallow (Toronto, ON) led the Saints in pass receiving yards with 74 on just two catches including his touchdown.
Marselio Mendez (West St. Paul, MN) had two catches for 69 yards while St. Clair teammate Riley Sagriff (Kingston, ON) led the receiving corps with 4 catches which totaled 55 yards.
Newton-Grain (Oxford, England) converted the two touchdowns for the Saints along with making his lone field goal attempt.
Rookie lineman Chris Rivero (Toronto, ON) led the St. Clair defense with 6 tackles on the day in a losing effort.
St. Clair finished the 2025 season with a 10-1 record and have made the CJFL National semi-final three of the last four seasons with the other year being national title (2024) while winning four consecutive OFC championships.
| CJFL National Semi-Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Total |
| St. Clair Saints | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| Okanagan Sun | 0 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 34 |