St. Paul's High School Archives: Up To Speed: 80s to now

1980s

Head coaches

Image: Crusaders in the locker room, 1983. St. Paul's High School Archive.

Though the Crusaders had not yet won a WHSFL championship by 1980, the team had grown stronger through the 1970s and promised to become better still as alumni came back to join the coaching team. Head Coach Len Sitter had also created a football training camp beginning in August, giving the Crusaders a head start over most other teams in the league.

Left: 1982 Crusaders team photo. St. Paul's High School Archive.

Right: Len Sitter holding up the championship trophy, 1982. St. Paul's High School Archive.

In 1982, the Crusaders won their first championship since joining the WHSFL in the 1950s, nearly thirty years prior. Fans and players were elated as supporters stormed the field. Photographs of Len Sitter holding the trophy triumphantly are iconic. To read more about the 1982 victory, check out the section on Moments of Victory.

Image: 1983 Crusaders. St. Paul's High School Archive.

Another championship drought followed the 1982 victory. The Crusaders had evidently become a much stronger team, however, than they had been through the 50s, 60s, and 70s. Nearly every season, the Crusaders made a strong showing in the playoffs and missed the final prize only narrowly to other strong teams.

Image: The 1989 Crusaders getting some advice. St. Paul's High School Archive.

The 1980s finished on a low note. In 1988, new head coach Demetro Danyluk struggled to rally a team which had lost many veteran players to graduation, a number of coaching staff, and a key team member for academic reasons. The team barely made it to the playoffs that year, losing to the Tec Voc Hornets in the quarter finals. The next year was even tougher, with only 2 wins and 5 losses.

1990s

Head coaches

Image: Crusaders heading home from a game, 1990. St. Paul's High School Archive.

In 1990, Len Sitter returned as head coach. Rallying the troops, he was able to reverse the previous year's record with 2 losses to 5 wins. After the dismal previous years, the Crusaders surprised everyone in the league by making it to the finals, but lost to the Sisler Spartans.

Image: A portion of the 1992 football roster. St. Paul's High School Archive.

1992 was "one to remember": many solid veteran players were in their final year, and the veteran coaching staff had high hopes of taking home the trophy. The 1992 Crusaders played an amazing regular season in which they were undefeated, but lost in the semi-finals to the Sisler Spartans.

Image: The 1993 Crusaders enjoying some downtime. St. Paul's High School Archive.

In 1993, Jim Ladd relieved Len Sitter as head coach. Each year during his tenure, the Crusaders made it to the playoffs but fell just short.

Image: The jubilant post-championship Crusaders, 1999. St. Paul's High School Archive.

In 1998, new head coach Mike Watson came in with a goal: to recapture the championship. Of course, such goals are not attained overnight, and the 1998 Crusaders didn't quite make it. But 1999 was one of the Crusaders' most amazing seasons in their then-60+ year history. The Crusaders went undefeated in the regular season with five shutout victories. At the final on November 6th against the Oak Park Raiders, Crusaders fans outnumbered their opponents' by 7 to 1. Despite the Raiders' strong defense who prevented any scoring during the first quarter, the Crusaders shut them out with a 34-0 victory.

2000-2020

[image: head coaches]

Head Coaches

Support Team

Looking at the photos of our historic teams in the hallway, it's not hard to see that the number of people supporting our teams has ballooned since the beginning of the 21st century. Early in our history, there was just one coach heading up each year's roster of eager boys. Today, we have a host of assistant coaches, athletic therapists, trainers, and more.

Image: The 2017 Crusaders, including players and the support team.

Developmental Team

Perhaps one of the biggest changes of the early 2000s was the creation of a Developmental team. Before 2001, any St. Paul’s student who wanted to play competitively had to try out for the single team at the school. Students who didn’t yet have the skill or who wanted to play on a more casual basis typically played in intramural football.

The downside to the developmental team, however, was the gradual dwindling of intramural football as most student athletes chose to try out for the developmental team.

Image: The first developmental team getting some coaching after a failed play, 2001. St. Paul's High School Archive.

Crusader v. Crusader

For a time, St. Paul's introduced an additional Junior Varsity team for younger players and had three teams. In 2018, the second Varsity team ended up playing in the AAA division - leading to the odd scenario of a Crusader vs. Crusader game! 

Image: Crusader vs. Crusader football game, 2018. St. Paul's High School Archive.

Rivalries

In the early 2000s, the Crusaders seemed to develop a rivalry with the Oak Park Raiders. More recently, the Raiders have been replaced as enemy-number-one by the Vincent Massey Trojans. The Trojans and the Crusaders have duked it out for the ANAVETS bowl on a number of occasions, both taking turns winning the championship. In 2019, the Crusaders once again beat them out for the bowl.

Image: A Crusader takes down a Trojan, November 16, 2019. St. Paul's High School Archive.

Shoo-ins for the finals

Since 2000, the Crusaders have not missed the playoffs once. In fact, they have only been eliminated a couple times before the final.

The Ones to Beat

Out of the last 20 seasons of high school football, the Crusaders have brought home the ANAVETS bowl 11 times. Some seasons have been nearly unbelievable: in 2011, the Crusaders played a perfect 10-0 season in which they allowed only 22 points against them in total.

Image: The Crusaders pose with the ANAVETS bowl, Nov 23, 2011. St. Paul's High School Archive.