With their high school careers coming to an end, a number of local football players got one last chance to put on the pads at the 2017 Saskatoon Motor Products Senior Bowl in Saskatoon .
The Melfort Comets led the way at the May 22 game with six players selected to the team including quarterback Troy Taylor, tight ends Braden Olson and Adam Meyers, wide receiver Riley Gibson, defensive lineman Levi Vedress, and safety Carter Hiebert.
David Rogers, the Comets’ head coach, was pleased to see six of his own players selected to the team.
“It says a lot about their abilities and what they chose to accomplish as football players.”
Having those players selected to Team North is huge not only for the players but also the Comets football program as a whole, said Rogers.
“It shows the students, who are maybe not involved in football or who are watching our football team, just the amount of effort or work that our kids put in to the accomplishments and what they accomplish on a daily basis.”
The Melfort sextet was joined at the Senior Bowl by a quartet from Tisdale: Cole Gisi, Gregory Brett, Tony Fele and Kevin Armstrong.
Joining those 10 players was Nipawin’s Brandon Duncan, who played both linebacker and defensive line during the game.
Duncan’s coach at L.P. Miller, Blaine Demmans, said it was great to see that he made the Senior Bowl roster.
“This is kind of their graduation. They’re moving on and he’s one of those that wants to continue with the football onward so we’re behind him 100 per cent.”
With the Bears struggling tremendously in recent years, Demmans said having Duncan play in the Senior Bowl will also provide a boost for their football program.
“When you start to see your players that are hitting that Grade 12 and they’re moving on and they’re continuing to play it’s really inspiring for the younger ones... Our junior programs are filling up with numbers, with good players too and they see that and then of course they’re inspired to do more with it as well.”
The game itself did not go tremendously well for Team North as they were beaten 19-15, with Team South scoring the go-ahead touchdown on the final play of the game.
Despite not getting the result Team North was looking for, Rogers, who also served as Team North’s head coach, was very pleased with the effort put forth by the players.
“As a team we overcame a lot of adversity throughout the game and I’m very proud of how they all played. That’s not just my guys but everybody in that, when things didn’t go our way, at no time did they ever consider packing it in and calling it a day.”
It was one of those days, said Rogers, who noted that they could not get a break.
“If anything was going to go against us it seemed to go against us.”
The bad breaks started early for the north as they gave Team South a short field in the first couple of minutes, thanks to a short field and a bad bounce.
“We had a short punt that actually bounced backwards and screwed up our coverage... so it actually squirted behind us it was short to begin with and so that hurt us right off the bat.”
Team North did manage to tie the game but they could not keep the score tied as Team South scored again at the beginning of the second quarter.
That is when Team North suffered more bad luck as starting quarterback Taylor went down with an injury and was forced to sit out the rest of the game.
Despite losing their starting quarterback and having to use Brett in a position he did not spend much of the week practicing, Team North did not miss a beat as they scored a touchdown just before halftime to take a 14-13 lead into the half.
Looking to extend their lead in the second half the north missed a pair of field goals and came away with just a single point instead of six.
“That happens in high school football,” noted Rogers.
With the north clinging to a 15-13 lead, Team South took over possession in the dying minutes and threw up a prayer with no time left and that prayer was answered as they scored the game winning touchdown.
“It was a great football game, it was just unfortunate. We had just about everything as a football team that could go against you go against you from every bounce to all that sort of stuff and we still only lost it right at the end.”
