The Fort Frances High School Muskies continue to prep for their upcoming Winnipeg High School Football League season—with a final scrimmage tentatively set for Friday against the International Falls Broncos.
Camp continues every evening this week leading into the game, and the squad got a sneak peak at their competition Saturday with a day of scrimmages against the Falls, Eveleth, and Warroad high schools.
“We didn’t have a lot of players but it went well,” head coach Vince Gouin said. “We had 12 Grade 11 and 12s scrimmage on one field and then another 12 Grade 9 and 10s scrimmage on the other.
“It was very good competition, but I was really proud of the way the boys stuck with it and it was a good learning experience, especially for the Grade 9 and 10s, and when I talked to them after they were all excited about it,” he added.
Each mini-game allowed for 15 minutes of offence and 15 minutes of defence, and considering the team had just one week and about 10 hours of practice under their belts going in—they stood up as well as could be expected.
“[The American teams] have put in typically two weeks of practice with two-a-days so you are looking at at least 20 to 25 hours per week of practice,” Gouin admitted.
“But from the first game to the last game the boys understood finally what it took, because we hadn’t done much hitting at all [in practice] before and we were shifting people around, some of the guys who missed it had work or family commitments to deal with, but hopefully this week they can all come out and I would expect them to be ready to play on Friday.”
Friday’s game counts for the host Broncos, as a win against Fort High would count towards their playoff seeding. The game will still be a scrimmage for the black-and-gold, but a solid performance would go a long way towards preparing them for the following Friday’s opening game of the regular season in Winnipeg against Garden City Collegiate.
The Muskies haven’t had a lot of kids taking in the camp tryouts so far, and will certainly continue to look to add depth at many positions before the start of the season.
“We’ll be working on a little bit more hitting in practice, it’s like anything else you have to ramp up to it,” coach Gouin stressed. “In our first week of practice, I wanted to get them to do the basics and make sure they are doing those things correctly, but we also worked on offensive plays, tackling drills, receiving drills, and we’ll do the same thing this week but with a lot more hitting and a focus on special teams.”
Gouin was quick to credit the help of Dennis Ogilvie, Tyler Huntley, and Casey Grant for coaching the “B” team on Saturday, but he is still hoping to get a permanent coach in place for that squad.
“So far no one has stepped up to coach, and I know the Falls would like to scrimmage us a couple times [over the course of the season],” Gouin said.
“I had a couple teachers that I asked but both of them declined so we’re still looking,” he added. “We’d like to have the Grade 9 and 10s scrimmage the Falls starting at 5 [p.m.] on Friday, but that isn’t for sure yet, either.”
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
