Football: Bronze-medal game a tough loss
By David McIver
After two consecutive provincial 2A football bronze medals, the Rosetown Royals came up short in their third appearance, losing 74-32 to the Wakaw Warriors here on Nov. 8.
The Warriors led 16-8 after the first quarter and 36-24 at halftime.
Despite a Wakaw Warrior tackler, quarterback Cale Morris of the Rosetown Royals dives forward for the touchdown behind the blocking of Carson Fortin (42) and Malcolm Ledding (L) as teammates Boyd Anderson (9) and Jordan Bouclin (97) amid Warriors Sam Ward (13), Cruz Symak-Goller (32) and Braxton Wudrich (R, 84). This major score with a successful points-after kick tied the score at 24 in the second quarter of the 2A six-man football bronze-medal here on Nov. 8. The Warriors won 74-32. Photo by David McIver
Royals running back Malcolm Ledding rushed for touchdowns of one and four yards. Ledding also had a long rush for another major called back. Offensive end Jordan Bouclin scored on a pass-and-run play of about 30 yards, while quarterback Cale Morris plunged ahead for two yards for a touchdown.
Receiver Nolan Holmes took the ball on the short opening kickoff for about 50 yards to the end zone. Holmes also scored on three passing plays. Cohen Palchinski, Brody Meston, and lineman Hank Leuschen also scored on pass plays. Mason Procyshyn rushed 91 yards for another major. After handing off, quarterback Micah Green went out on a left-side pattern and caught a pass from Procyshyn for another touchdown.
The defeat on the home field was especially tough as it was the last game for offensive co-ordinator and vice-principal Gary Paproski, the last member remaining from the Royals’ 2005 nine-man provincial championship team. It was an emotional time for him and others who came over to talk with him afterward.
“We didn’t clean up mistakes,” said Royals head coach Mitchell Wintonyk. “We knew it was going to cost us if we didn’t—and we didn’t do it.
“It’s a very simple formula: you turn the ball over and you’re not going to win many football games. It plagued us all playoffs. We got away with it once and we didn’t get away with it the next two times.”
“It’s always nice to win the last game of the year, even though it’s a bronze,” said Warriors head coach Carter Haryett.
“We thought we had a shot at gold or silver, but we got to come here and win our last game of the year. Not that many teams get to do that.”
The Warriors had 15 Grade 12 players on the roster. “Half of our team is graduating, so we’ll be a smaller team next year,” said Haryett. “But we’ve got a lot of good young players coming up.
“Rosetown played a hard game. They’re a young, up-and-coming team, not that many Grade 12s, so they’ll be good for a few years,” said Haryett. “Hopefully, sometime we’ll meet them in the playoffs again.”