It’s football weather for the Hanley Sabers and LCBI Bisons senior boys football teams as they battle through the cold and snow and opposing defences in their quest for a birth in the provincial finals.
The Bisons finished off the Gull Lake Lions 46-33 in the quarterfinals Oct. 27 at Gull Lake in a breezy -10 C fall day before returning to the Bison Dome to tackle a strong Kelliher/Ituna Trojans team last Saturday. A win against the Trojans would secure them a spot in the provincial finals held this weekend.
Phil Guebert, head coach of the Bisons, said it was a hard match-up against the Lions on a cleared but frozen field that could have gone the other way late in the game, but their defence stood up to the task and stopped a surging Lions offence when it was needed most.
“We were up 38-17 at the half, but we did escape a little bit because they scored a touchdown on the last play of the half, but it got called back for holding,” said Guebert. “Nobody scored in the third quarter and then they forced a few fumbles on us. We had three fumbles in the fourth and they scored twice off of it and closed the gap.
“Two touchdowns could have tied it up or won it for them, but our defence held them and our offence controlled the ball at the end of the game to win it.”
Guebert said the team would have to keep pressuring the Kelliher/Ituna defence if they hope to make it to the finals and keep the Trojans from making it to the finals themselves for a second straight year. He said the game is being played at the Bison Dome, so the home crowd should give them an edge.
“It’ll be nice to have support here,” he said. “We did have some on the road, but to have a crowd here in Outlook supportive of us will be good and we’re suspecting field conditions should be OK because it is supposed to be above zero almost all week.”
Hanley Sabers
The Sabers faced the defending Saskatchewan 6-man football champion Raymore Rebels last weekend at home in the semifinals after beating the Kerrobert Rebels 51-0 Oct. 27 in the Jungle at Hanley. A win against Raymore will advance the Sabers into the provincial finals where they hope to win their first championship since 2009.
Mark Anderson, head coach of the Sabers, said his team would be in tough against an experienced Raymore squad that understands the pressure of playoff football, but he hopes the “great crowd” at the Jungle will help even up the stakes.
“The leaders on our team were in Grade 9 when we last won provincials, so they weren’t playing,” said Anderson. “Raymore will obviously have the upper hand in experience, but we’ll have the upper hand in hosting. The atmosphere at Hanley is a neat thing, so hopefully our guys will be able to handle it and we can give them a good game.”
Anderson said the weather wouldn’t be a factor against Raymore and wasn’t a factor against Kerrobert. He said the team doesn’t feel the cold when they’re on the field and just executed a “real steady” game plan against Kerrobert in capitalizing on their chances in both the first and second halves of the match.
“It was 28-0 at half, so it wasn’t a huge score, but we are just kind of relentless,” said Anderson. “We’re pretty methodical about our approach and we have some pretty dynamic players on offence.”
Anderson singled out star quarterback Josh Anderson who helped guide the team to victory by rushing for over 100 yards and had a hand in seven touchdowns, rushing for two and throwing for five, but said it was the whole team that stepped up to get the win.
“It was just a good solid team effort. Obviously the defence played extremely well”