Small but mighty Lively Hawks take second-straight Sudbury football title and try for northern Ontario crown

Lively District Secondary School is full of football players.

Not because the small high school in the suburbs of Greater Sudbury specifically recruits them, but because about a third of all 260 students play on the gridiron.

On the boys side, about half of all male students play for either the junior and football teams.

And despite that, the Hawks win a lot, often beating schools with three times the student population.

The senior boys have captured two-straight Sudbury city titles and the Hawks have won a total of four crowns since the football team was revived just 12 years ago. 

So, how does Lively do it?

"I've been asked: 'What's going on there? What are you feeding these kids?' But then I show them our guys and we're not bigger or stronger than anyone else," says head coach Reg Bonin.

"Yeah, I don't know. It's a good question."

The CBC's Erik White tries to find an answer in this documentary:

Morning North6:36How a tiny high school wins big on the football field

Half of all the boys in the school are on the football team, but still the Lively Hawks find a way to beat much bigger high schools on their way to two-straight Sudbury city titles. CBC reporter Erik White tries to figure out their secret in this documentary.