Royal Imperial Collegiate of Canada, a university-prep boarding school in St. Catharines in Ontario, Canada, will play its second year of American-style football in 2017. And, for the second year in a row, RICC will play every game on the road against American high school football teams.
The RICC Knights 2017 schedule will take the team to different parts of America to play games against teams from Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia, plus a scrimmage in Kentucky. Since the team only travels by bus, the players and coaches will log over 6,100 miles for the 2017 season. Last year the team travelled 6,114 miles.
RICC finished 2016 with a 3-6 record, winning its last three games against Word of God Christian Academy in North Carolina and St. Thomas More from Connecticut and Clearwater Academy International from Florida. The Knights loses came at the hands of 2016 Ohio Division III state champ Archbishop Hoban, which finished the season ranked No. 35 in the High School Football America Top 50, Archbishop Moeller (Ohio), Ursuline (Ohio), Hun School (New Jersey), Northeast (Pennsylvania) and Bishop Sullivan (Virginia).
The Knights will have a new head coach this year. Last year’s defensive coordinator Joe Hagins, who played at Purdue and with the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Hagins takes-over for his former Tiger-Cat teammate Jeff Brown.
Related: Listen to 2016 interview with RICC head coach Jeff Brown
RICC’s 2017 schedule
After scrimmaging Johnson Central in Paintsville, Kentucky to start 2017 on August 18th, RICC will play St. Francis de Sales in Columbus Ohio for the team’s season opener on August 25. Last year, St. Francis was 13-1, advancing to the Ohio Division III state semifinals, where the Stallions lost to eventually state champ Archbishop Hoban.
RICC will play three other Ohio teams in 2017 — Winton Woods on September 16th, Lake Catholic on September 23rd and Warren John F. Kennedy on October 7th. JFK won Ohio’s 2016 Division VII state title last year with a 14-1 record.
The Knights will have two 24-hour-plus bus trips when they travel to play Brook Hill in Bullard, Texas on September 2nd and Clearwater Academy in Florida in November.
Royal Imperial will play three 2016 opponents — The Hun School in New Jersey on September 10th, Northeast High School in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 14th and Bishop Sullivan in Virginia on October 20th. New to the schedule in 2017 is Cheshire High School in Connecticut.
Related: 46 of the top 50 players in CFL are from America
