The Hanley Sabers senior boys football team braved the cold and snow, but couldn’t handle a tough Ituna/Kelliher Trojans team losing 67-24 in the 1A 6-man provincial football championship held at the Jungle in Hanley Nov. 10.

Mark Anderson, head coach of the Sabers, said the Trojans played a “very physical” game on the frozen field at Hanley utilizing their strong running game to jump out to a commanding lead early in the match. He said Ituna/Kelliher made a “lot of long runs” in the first half, thanks in part to many missed tackles by the Sabers defence, which contributed to the 42-0 Trojans lead at the half.

“They are a power running team, so in those kind of (weather) conditions you can go,” said Anderson. “We’re a skill-based team with throwing and it’s a little tougher for receivers to catch the ball and handle balls with skill in those conditions. That’s not an excuse by any means, but cold weather does suit a running game better.”

Anderson said despite the lopsided score heading into the second half his boys didn’t give up and came out strong, but another comeback win in the playoffs for the Sabers just wasn’t meant to be. The Sabers came back in the semi-finals against the Raymore Rebels to earn a 40-26 win to advance to the championship.

The coach said with high school guys playing in their first final turning a game around against such a solid and experienced team is a pretty difficult thing to do.

“It’s interesting in games where they play LCBI and they only beat them by 10 and we beat LCBI substantially worse than that, but it has to do with the day, the field conditions and all that sort of stuff,” he said. “They went to the provincial final last year (losing against Raymore) too and were pretty used to the pressure. I think that got to some of our guys.”

To read more please see the Nov. 19 print edition of The Davidson Leader.