The Ottawa Sooners couldn’t quite prevent a three-peat by the Windsor AKO Fratmen, but a strong showing in the Ontario Football Conference championship game on Sunday left them looking ahead to the possibilities in 2016.

“They’re a team full of great athletes,” Ottawa receiver Joey MacDonald said after the Fratmen had claimed their third straight Teddy Morris Memorial Trophy with a 21-11 victory at home. “We came in with a game plan, but their athletes, they got it done today.

“We have athletes, too,” MacDonald said. “I’d like to see them again in next year’s championship. We have a couple of key guys that we look up to leaving this year and they’re going to be missed, but we’ve got a lot of guys coming back. We’ll be fresh and I think we’ll be even tougher next year. … We’re going to continue to grow.”

On Sunday, Windsor quarterback Austin Lumley threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Llevi Noel and Cody McCann ran two yards for a score. Kicker Clarke Green handled the remainder of AKO’s scoring, converting both majors, booting two field goals and a single.

For Ottawa, MacDonald caught a 15-yard TD pass from Nick Gorgichuk. They scored a two-point convert and Andrew Banerjee kicked a field goal.

The loss could not take much away from an exceptional season for the Sooners, who finished third in the regular-season standings with a 6-2 record before avenging a loss to the Hamilton Hurricanes in last year’s semifinals. Last weekend at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, it was all Ottawa for most of the game before a late push by the Hurricanes left the final 41-35 Sooners.

It was a year to remember for the undefeated Fratmen, who claimed a third straight championship.

— Bob Duff, Windsor Star