Muskie football program scores another touchdown

The Muskie football program will add a new twist this coming season with the introduction of a ‘C’ team for players in grade seven and eight.
The new team, under the direction of head coach Rob Tysz (who headed the ‘B’ team last season), will play a schedule against only American teams.
The senior Muskie squad will consist of players mainly in grades 11 and 12 while the junior program will feature players from grades nine and 10.
“Basically, you look at the interest in football, especially in the western district in places like Emo, Devlin, and Barwick, and you see kids want to play football,” said Bob Swing, who took over as head coach of the Muskie football program in 1996.
“With the Touchdown Club, it became feasible to have a ‘C’ team,” he added.
The Touchdown Club, using money generated from bingos over the past few years, will put up an additional $17,000 as a first-time expenditure to the ‘C’ team for the purchase of equipment and other start-up costs.
“Without the Touchdown Club, we would never have a chance to grow,” stressed Swing. “The good thing is that we have enough good equipment already. This has been a five-year plan set in motion by [former head coach] Gord Kitzul and now it’s all falling into place.
“We’re really on the cusp of something special here,” he enthused. “The one other thing I would like to do is have a players’ clinic. We have so many contacts in the CFL and in Canadian college that we can bring guys in.”
Swing said the Muskie program has taken an “American” approach with its system by having a pair of developmental teams below the senior one.
“The way this is progressing is that it all leads to senior football,” he explained.
Fort High athletic director Rick Wiedenhoeft agreed the Muskie football program definitely is on the upswing.
“When you compare our program with the other high schools in NorWOSSA that don’t have a junior program, their players don’t start until grade 10,” he noted.
“[The new program] looks good for the future of football in Fort Frances,” he remarked. “It certainly bodes well for us in NorWOSSA.”
Swing will be in direct control of the senior and junior teams while Tysz will run the ‘C’ program with the help of his hand-picked coaching staff.
While Swing admitted his coaching staffs already are in place with qualified personnel, he added he would be open to anyone else looking to help out.
“The coaching staff is pretty much set but there are tons of things that people can do, like prepare equipment or help sit on the Touchdown Club committee,” he noted.
The senior team already has completed a pair of in-class meetings–with 32 players taking part–and will hit the field for the first time as part of their spring camp next Thursday from 6-8 p.m.
Then they will wrap up their spring session with five more practices scattered between May 3-19.
Come fall, they will play a six-game NorWOSSA season against the Kenora Broncos and Dryden Eagles, as well as four exhibition contests (including a showdown Aug. 28 here against the Sturgeon Creek Schooners of Winnipeg).
Rounding out the rest of their exhibition schedule is the traditional matchup against the International Falls Broncos on Sept. 2, then road games in Wadena, Mn. (Sept. 24) and Greenbush, Mn. (Oct. 15).
Swing said the idea is to give his players a chance to square off against the best teams in the area in order to improve their skills.
Because the NorWOSSA football season was washed out last year by a potential teachers’ strike in Kenora and Dryden, the Muskies only played six exhibition games.
Meanwhile, the junior team will play a six-game schedule over a six-week period starting Sept. 7 at home against Roseau. They also will host International Falls (Sept. 30) and Littlefork (Oct. 5).
Their road games include Warroad (Sept. 9), Baudette (Sept. 13), and Roseau (Oct. 14).
The schedule for the new ‘C’ hasn’t been finalized yet.