Bill (Nookie) Smith and Edgar Mott were the star running backs in 1946 when the Maple Leafs won the QRFU championship in their first year of junior football. Glen Douglas, who would go on to become one of the Alouettes' four famous "Eager Beavers", was their fierce two-way end. But they lost to Hamilton in the Eastern Canadian Final.
After the season, Glen Brown resigned as head coach, and was replaced by his assistant and co-founder Solly Mastro, and former Jeff Russel trophy winner Bill Davies. Davies would remain for three years; Solly until the end of the 1954 season.
In 1947, a more powerful team, quarterbacked by Jim Britton swept undefeated through the regular season and beat Westmount in the final, 15-0, for their second straight QRFU title. But the Quebec season finished too late for an Eastern Canadian final.
When they returned with an equally strong team in 1948, the Maple Leafs seemed a shoo-in for their third straight provincial championship. But they were upset in the final by Westmount 6-5.
There was no way anybody in Quebec was going to stop them in '49, not with the gifted Bill Dickie, a future CFLer, at quarterback, and a line anchored by two future pros, Wenty (Moose) Young and Jimmy Ambrose, who was also an extraordinary placement kicker. But after steamrolling to the Quebec title, they lost again to Hamilton.
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