The Steinbach Regional Secondary School's junior varsity football team saw its inaugural season come to an end Wednesday night at Charleswood Broncos Field in Winnipeg.

The Sabres dropped a 30-22 decision to the Oak Park Raiders in the Winnipeg High School Football League's JV Division semifinals.

"Our game last night was a tough one," texted SRSS head coach Kerry Friesen. "The boys came out slow in the first half and Oak Park was prepared and ready to take advantage of those opportunities. We battled back and showed great heart and resiliency, but ultimately having to climb out of a big first quarter deficit and missed opportunities left us falling just short of a victory."

The Raiders, who built an early 17-0 advantage and enjoyed a 30-14 lead at halftime, move on to the championship game against the St. Paul's Crusaders who defeated the Vincent Massey Trojans 16-9 in the other semifinal.

"It's hard to say why our boys started the game the way they did," commented coach Friesen. "We needed to be physical and consistent at all positions from the opening kickoff. Unfortunately, we only got on track later in the second quarter."

Avery Penner had a huge night for the Sabres as he carried the ball 21 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns.

Quarterback Austin Dueck completed 13-of-23 passes for 202 yards with one touchdown and one interception.

Luke Mehling, Jayden Pozniak, Thomas Peters and the rest of the defense shutdown Oak Park in the second half.

"Our entire staff, program and school are extremely proud of this group of young men," noted Friesen. "After the loss, the boys were reminded of how far they had grown from the first rookie practices in early May till now six months later in November. The growth and commitment of our team has been amazing."

Jamie Peters, who convinced the WHSFL that football would succeed at Steinbach Regional back in the spring of 2010, worked tirelessly the last couple of years to put a junior varsity team on the field.

And now year one is in the history books.

"The twenty grade 10 students who will be moving up to play varsity football have gained hundreds of repetitions in practice and valuable game experience," commented coach Friesen. "Many of them would not have had this without the JV program as younger players are often playing back-up roles to grade 11 or grade 12 students on the varsity squad. This years experience will pay huge dividends for the varsity team this year and years to come."


photos courtesy Billie Jo Hunter