Jamie Peters, who did the behind the scenes work way back in the spring of 2010 so students at the Steinbach Regional Secondary School could play football, thanked everyone who had a hand in making season eight so successful at the team's 2017 Banquet on Wednesday at the SRSS gym.

"It's always a great night to recognize the current players and the former players. I'm really big on trying to keep my former players involved. We do our Ring of Honour and the Hall of Fame inductions so I'm pretty excited about that group of guys."

Season eight was historic in the sense that the football program made two significant moves in 2017.

The first involved a change in competition as the Winnipeg High School Football League gave the green light for the SRSS to move up to the John Potter AAA Division from the Kas Vidruk AA Division.

"We hung tough," said coach Peters. "We competed and I think that's what is important. It's not about winning or losing - it's about competing and we now know where the bar is."

"If we want to get over the hump and compete at at regular basis and getting wins, we have to learn how to win at that level. This program has done that. We've won at every level and we've lost at every level. It's just a matter of time before we get more success at the Potter level in terms of wins but I think it was super successful."

The second move was the addition of junior varsity football to the SRSS.

"JV football was a big step," said Peters. "We got another 30 players involved in football and that's going to pay big dividends in two or three years. It's been huge for our school. Some of those kids that maybe don't get involved in other types of sports, participate in football. It was a very successful season, not only for the players but the coaches. It's a big job but I'm happy that I got a lot of people helping me out."

The football program also dealt with the passing of beloved line coach Brian Kobylak in early October.

"Coach Koby was a great guy," said Peters. "He was great for our kids. He started Wing Night and the players looked up to him. He was the wise one that kept the coaches in line every now and again. He was great to have around and he's going to be dearly missed."

Year eight has come and gone and now work begins on year nine.

"I have four kids now - two football teams and two real kids," said Peters. "Year nine is something to think about. We'll be starting off-season workouts in about a week or two and that's kind of the next big step. Then we'll hit the field in May and build off of that. It makes me feel old and it makes me feel super proud of what we've built. Seeing the alumni come out to these types of events is pretty cool."





2017 SRSS Award Winners
Varsity
MVP - Tyler Bueckert
Top Offensive Player - Eric Adams
Top Defensive Player - Isaac Dokken
Top Lineman - Nathan Poetker
Special Teams Player - Sheycoy Selent
Most Improved - Kody Maxymowich
Leadership - Stefan Froese
Legacy Award - Josh Outhaivong

Junior Varsity
MVP - Teg Peters
Top Offensive Player - Avery Penner & Jaden Martens
Top Defensive Player - Skyler Wilkinson
Top Lineman - Graham Hunter
Special Teams Player - Keagan Sawatzky
Most Improved - Thomas Peters

2016 alumni Austin Buhler, Dakota Funk, Riley Doerksen, Nic Wareham, Martin Baron, Dustin Erickson, Hyde Rickard & Graham Cruise were added to the Sabres Ring of Honour

Foster Martens, Derek Plett, Taylor Buhler, Chris Brown-Fillion & Myron Doerksen were added to the Sabres Hall of Fame