At a time when cross-border tensions have never been higher, a pair of Canadian Junior Football League teams are gearing up for exhibition contests against American college programs this weekend.
The Ottawa Sooners will host Montclair State University at Gee-Gees Stadium on Friday, May 16 at 7:00 p.m. EST, while Saint John’s University is travelling to face the Winnipeg Rifles at St. Vital Mustangs Field at 1:00 p.m. CST on Saturday, May 17. Both collegiate programs compete at the NCAA Division III level.
This is the third straight year that the Sooners will play an exhibition game against an American team, having lost 48-6 to Utica University in 2023 and hosted Alfred University in 2022. The Rifles are 1-2 all-time in games against American teams, having previously lost to St. John’s and St. Scholastica but defeating Augsburg University in 2019.
Both spring games will be played under hybrid rule sets, though each program has taken slightly different approaches. In Ottawa, the two teams will play four-down football with 12-men-a-side and Canadian rules. In Winnipeg, the rule set and number of players will flip back and forth based on which team is on offence.
The Sooners were 4-4 last season in the Ontario Football Conference, while the Rifles went 1-7 in Prairie Football Conference competition. Montclair State went 3-7 in 2024, while Saint John’s finished 11-1 and lost in the third round of the Division III playoffs. The Johnnies are widely regarded as the most successful program in the history of D3 football and have an all-time winning percentage of .723.
OFC and PFC teams do not begin the CJFL regular season until early August.
