Dan Falloon
The Fort High Muskies were presented with a difficult challenge in Winnipeg on Friday.
They were charged with the task of defeating an undefeated Dakota Lancers team.
Referring to Dakota, Muskie head coach Chad Canfield said he “wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the best football team in the Winnipeg High School Football League, regardless of conference.”
The Lancers earned that commendation after eliminating the Muskies from the playoffs with a 66-0 whitewashing.
If history repeats itself, the Muskies are unlikely to be tasked with keeping up with the Lancers next year, as the WHSFL tends to try to readjust its divisions fairly in the offseason, shuffling dominant teams to higher divisions while relegating weaker teams to lower ones.
Dakota outscored its opponents 280-15 and pitched four shutouts in eight games, including two of the Muskies.
As well, they only allowed seven points in a game once all year.
Even keeping the game close proved to be a monumental task for the overmatched Muskies, as Dakota punched in its first touchdown less than a minute into the contest and built a 14-0 lead just over three minutes in.
The Lancers built a 36-0 halftime advantage before racking up another 30 points in the second half.
“It was very rough,” acknowledged Canfield.
“We weren’t able to do a whole lot against them.”
In the face of crushing defeat, Canfield was able to select a handful of shining stars.
“There were some positive performances,” he stressed.
“I thought Brandan Pratt played very well. He stood out on our defence.
“He’s a very big, strong, fast kid and unfortunately, we were playing a whole team of really big, strong, fast kids.”
Offensively, Canfield was pleased with the play of quarterback Tobijah Gerber.
Though the Lancer defence was suffocating throughout the game and kept Fort High from getting anything going, Canfield was encouraged by Gerber’s decision-making, and Dakota only received the ball on kicks, not turnovers, a sore spot for the Muskie offence for much of the year.
“We didn’t create a whole lot of offence against that team [Dakota], but what was really nice to see was taking care of the football,” offered Canfield.
“They had some very tight coverage.
“Tobijah is starting to get that incomplete passes are okay as long as you’re not forcing it in there, throwing it to the other team,” he added.
As well, Canfield was again pleased by the work of running back John Myers, who split duties with Tyler Abma.
“John Myers ran well for us. He ran hard,” stressed Canfield.
“He didn’t have a lot of room. For a guy that’s as young as John, he’s going to be an amazing football player once he grows a little bit.”
Fort High will feel the effects of losing a number of graduates before next season.
Though those players have slogged their way through some tumultuous times, as the team has only recorded one win in the last two seasons, Canfield underlined the importance of those players’ dedication to the program to help keep Muskie football alive.
“It’s an unfortunate way to end a football career,” acknowledged Canfield.
“Those people that aren’t coming back, they should know that they’re going to have a part of our success in the future because they stuck with it.
“These are the guys who went through the worst Muskie high school football years that there were, and they stuck with it,” he continued.
However, with those losses surely to be felt, Canfield called on other athletes at Fort High to come out for the team next year to see the program through once again.
“We lost not only this game, but other games this year not so much as a team but as a school,” said Canfield.
“You walk through the school and you see so many athletic-looking kids and so many big kids that could be out there helping us out.
“It’s difficult, because we are going against a lot of big rosters and a lot of veteran kids,” he added.
“We don’t have that going yet, but we’re going to get there.”
And in spite of the lopsided score, just a few extra bodies to relieve the players going two ways could have made the result a little less gut-wrenching.
“It looks bad on the scoreboard, but some of those guys are doing the jobs of two or three guys on any other team with a full roster,” stressed Canfield.
“It’s difficult for us to compete with that. We have to work on growing our roster size and getting a little more experience.”
The coaching staff was planning to meet last night to dissect the season and make offseason plans.
Canfield said on Monday that some ideas in the works included off-season workouts and perhaps some skill sessions in the gymnasium, if gym time is available.
In terms of recruiting, the high school itself is a big canvassing ground, though Canfield plans to contact interested Grade 8 students from feeder schools, and may hold a camp for just those students to teach them the basics of the game.
Canfield wrapped up by lauding his coaching staff, noting that the biggest thing he learned as a rookie head coach was to surround himself with a quality staff.
“Running a football program isn’t a one-person job,” he stressed.
“I think we’ve done a good job of having a lot of good coaches out there.”
He thanked the coaches’ employers for allowing them to work flexible hours in order to attend after-school practices, and anticipated a further gelling of the coaching crew next season.
“This whole rebuilding thing is going to take a few years, but all the coaches are committed to it,” pledged Canfield.
“Hopefully we’ll start seeing some more success next year.”
