It's been a long 25 years for Mike Lachance who won the CJFL championship in 1999 as a member of the AKO Fratmen football team. "You feel great in '99. It felt great," Said Lachance who was a coach for the black and gold. "In 99, I mean, you're young and dumb and a little naive. We went to three national championships in a four year span with a really dynasty type of team. As a young coach, I just thought that was normal. I thought that was my first four years in the CFL I thought, I'm going to be back every year."
He got back to the dance a couple of times but Lachance finally got a opportunity to hoist the Canadian Bowl after 21 years as head coach. "Just proud of these guys," Lachance said after the Saints came back to beat Okanagan 37-22 at Acumen Stadium. "They really overcame a lot of doubts. The OFC hasn't won it in 25 years. '99 last time we won, we beat Okanagan."
The Saints trailed 22-9 at the half but quarterback Maurice Sodja took over the game after the break. He hit Cameron St. Kitt's-Park with a 51-yard reception that landed the Saints inside Okanagan's five yard line. Sodja then scored the firsts of his three rushing touchdowns to get St. Clair rolling in the right direction.
Check out the highlights for more of the game story and post game interviews with players in the video below.
