The 2013 football season came to a close for the Hanley Sabers senior boys team after a provincial semifinal 74-64 loss Nov. 2 to the North Valley High Eagles at Lemberg.

Sabers head coach Mark Anderson said the game came down to a “couple plays here and there” that could have turned the final result the other way, but he is proud of the effort his team displayed against a team that had some “good athletes” playing their best in a wide open game.

“We didn’t score in the fourth (quarter),” said Anderson, noting the first provincial game played at Lemberg for the five-year-old Eagles club provided a great playoff venue. “It comes down to tightening up a bit. They took off at the beginning (of the game) and got a lot of points and then we took it to them through the second quarter. The third quarter was soft in many ways and then the fourth quarter they scored and we didn’t.

“That was the difference in the game. A dropped ball here, a tackle there would have made the difference.”

The semifinal was a high scoring back and forth game that saw the Eagles soar out to a 32-22 lead after the first quarter. The Sabers roared back to make the score 52-44 in their favour at the half. Play tightened up in the second half as Hanley led by a close 64-60 score after three, but was not able to sustain the lead eventually falling 74-64 to the Lemberg team.

Leading the Sabers once again was safety Mike Lohrey who played a strong defensive game while also scoring two touchdowns when seeing some plays on offence and offensive end Kody Rowlet who had a big game with four touchdowns. Sabers linebacker Damon Prystupa and centre Kirk Simonsen, who added another two touchdowns for Hanley, also had really strong games.

Anderson said the team played great this season considering they lost seven “all-stars” to graduation last June, but rebuilding is always a part of high school football. He said the coaching staff is “very pleased” with the team for their effort this fall.

“It’s always interesting to see who will step up and play and we really came together as a team,” he said. “To go 8-1 is a fantastic season anytime to get that result.

“This year we lose seven players again, so it’s tough every year. Next year we have a very small senior group of four boys, but our Grade 10 and 9 (players) are a really strong group. I think we’ll be fine for years to come.”

The Davidson Cyclones senior men’s hockey team beat their former leading scorer Josh Sim and his defending SWHL (Sask West Hockey League) champion Kindersley Red Lions 5-2 on home ice Oct. 26 beginning another season of hockey in town and another key change in personnel on the roster.

“For the first game of the season we played really good,” said Cyclones goaltender Mark Zoerb, who gave up two goals on 22 shots through 30:26 of playing time before being replaced by Brady Willner for the second half of the game. “There are a lot of new guys this year and everybody seemed to play good together.”

Although the roster is still taking shape, new faces on the club that made their debut against the Red Lions include locals Bryce Prpick, Garret Dieno and Orrin Gryba and imports Cody Danberg and Kyle Bortis. Conspicuously missing from the Cyclones roster for its first pre-season game was two-time LLHL (Long Lake Hockey League) MVP Steve DaSilva who now calls the Beechy Bombers home.

“It (won’t be) easy to be able to replace him,” said Zoerb. “That’s a big spot to fill, but we brought in three young local players and we brought in two new imports that bring a lot of skill so I think we’ll be fine.”

Jason Shaw, head coach of the Cyclones, said Bortis, who scored the second and fourth goals against Kindersley, and Danberg, the first and fifth plus an assist on Kevin Johnson’s second period marker, are both gifted offensive players who have put up big numbers wherever they have played. He said the goal is to have the two new scorers playing on different lines this season, which should keep the club a dangerous offensive threat at all times.

“They both played some good hockey (against Kindersley),” said Shaw. “I don’t know if they’ll play together much (as) you want to try and spread the scoring out. Derek Allan has a sore knee right now, so we’re waiting on him to see how things go. Carter Smith is a pretty good offensive player too, so we’ll probably run two lines to try to spread out the scoring all year. You don’t want to just rely on one line.”

Shaw said with the new recruits the Cyclones should be able to play the same free skating high scoring hockey they enjoyed with DaSilva and Sim before him. He said their style that saw the club once again lead the league in regular season scoring last year won’t be changing this season and their goal of winning a fifth straight provincial title won’t as well.

To read more please see the November 4 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The Hanley Sabers senior boys football team is one win away from advancing to its second straight 6-man provincial championship final.

Standing in their way is the relatively unknown North Valley High Eagles who are seeing their first provincials’ competition in their short five-year history.

Mark Anderson, coach of the Sabers, said their Nov. 2 semifinal game at Lemberg against the Eagles may be the first time they have seen the club, but opposition coaches have given the Hanley staff a few pointers to help them prepare. He said North Valley High has a strong quarterback and plays a good all-round game, so his club will have to play their best to advance.

“They sound like a very strong team,” said Anderson. “From here on in there are no easy games. We’re in tough here. We lost a lot of kids from last year, so it’ll be a tough game for us. They are a very athletic team, so it’ll be interesting to see what they have for us.”

Eagles coach Bob Mayo said his team (6-1 in conference play this year) is “pretty quick” and uses that speed to their advantage. He said they’re not overly big, but play to their strengths which they must keep on doing if they hope to beat Hanley.

“The main thing is we’ve got to stay relaxed and not get too up,” said Mayo, whose team advanced to the semifinal game with a 52-28 quarterfinals win Oct. 26 over the Carrot River Wildcats. “We’ve never hosted a provincial game here and there has been a lot of buzz in our town, so keep our kids focused and as long as they do their jobs we’ll be in the game. If we get running around or trying to cover for people or do things that we’re not supposed to then we’re going to get in trouble.”

The Sabers advanced to the semifinal after trouncing the Elrose Eagles 74-16 at home in their Oct. 26 quarterfinal match. The team was led on defence once again by the strong play of safety Mike Lohrey who pulled in four interceptions and led the team in tackles.

Offensive ends Jesse Presnell and Kody Rowlet scored three touchdowns apiece for the Sabers to lead the team, while quarterback Joel Peters had an outstanding game throwing for over 200 yards.

Anderson said the team’s playoff experience really came into play against Elrose and the fact their conference is a bit better in competition level helped as well. He said the Eagles have good athletes and some big kids, but the Sabers were able to take advantage of some uncertainty on the Elrose defence propelling Hanley to an quick 22-0 lead after the first quarter and a 66-8 lead after three.

To read more please see the November 4 print edition of The Davidson Leader.

The Hanley Sabers senior boys football team has secured a home date against the Elrose Eagles in the provincial quarterfinals after knocking the Central Butte Bulldogs out of the playoffs Oct. 19 at the Jungle.

Sabers head coach Mark Anderson said they don’t know much about the Elrose team, which advanced to the Oct. 26 quarterfinal game after beating the Eatonia Spartans 62-45 a week earlier at Elrose. He said the Sabers have never lined up against them, but expects the Eagles to be strong.

“They have five wins and a tie, so they’re a five-win team,” said Anderson. “They came in second in their conference, so that’s why we’re playing them. Then our second place team is playing the first place team in their conference. Gull Lake will be playing Kerrobert.”

Jess Kingwell, head coach of the Eagles, said his team that is made up of players from Elrose, Dinsmore and Kyle doesn’t know much about Hanley as well, except that they have some big bodies. He said they do know the Sabers hit hard and tackle well, so they’ll have to get a few good blocks to get their balanced offence going.

We’re “quite good actually,” said Kingwell. “We do some runs, some throws and try to keep the defence off guard and catch them off guard when we can.”

Kingwell said their 62-45 win over Eatonia was a tale of two very different halves. He said they came out “really strong” in the first half, but forgot they still had to win the game in the final two quarters letting the Spartans right back into it.

“It definitely wasn’t our best second half this season,” he said. “In fact it was probably one of our worst ones. We played Eatonia twice already up to that point. We tied them our first game of the year and we beat them quite easily in our second one, so I think (our players) had that in mind and were maybe looking past them already. They definitely gave us a run for our money.”

Anderson said the coaching staff is unhappy about how the score got away in their match against Central Butte and it doesn’t reflect the strong game the Bulldogs put up. He said Central Butte marched the ball down the field most of the game, but couldn’t put it in the end zone and then his offence got rolling.

“It was 18-8 after the first quarter,” he said. “It was 38-8 (at the half), but definitely it felt different than that. They really moved the ball well. Again our depth came into (play) and they were playing multiple players both ways. We don’t do much of that and if we can stay tight with a team usually we can do well later.”

Sabers safety Mike Lohrey lead the defence against Central Butte with a combined 21 tackles and assists. Lohrey also managed to score three touchdowns when the coaches threw him in for a few running plays. Hanley also was helped on the scoreboard by offensive end Kody Rowlet who made it into the end zone twice while also racking up over 200 yards receiving.