Royals celebrate season-end awards with standout players and retiring coach

By David McIver

Coaches don’t usually seek attention in amateur sports, but one coach got some of that—along with all 49 senior Rosetown Royals football players—at the season-end awards banquet on Tuesday.

Graduating players Wyatt Perry (L, front) and Malcolm Ledding flank Boyd Anderson, winner of the outstanding graduate award; Rayna James, winner of the Spirit of the Royals award; and Alex Nickel pose after the senior Rosetown Royals football banquet on Tuesday; missing James Friesen. Photo by David McIver

Running back Boyd Anderson won the Outstanding Graduate Award. Linebacker-defensive back Rayna James won the Spirit of the Royals Award, the first female player to do so. Carson Fortin won the Offensive Player of the Year Award. Offensive end Jordan Bouclin won the Top Lineman Award. Twin brother and defensive lineman Joseph Bouclin won the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Running back Harper Willis won the Rookie of the Year Award.

Anderson, James, and quarterback Alex Nickel won Four-Year Dedication and Contribution Awards.

At the end of the school year, offensive co-ordinator Gary Paproski is retiring as a teacher at Rosetown Central High School and as a coach—alongside badminton—of Royals football for the last 28 years.

Besides mentioning near the close that he was trying to persuade Paproski to return as a community coach, son Brendan Paproski, present Royals offensive coach and former Royals quarterback, had these words: “…you have shaped not only the program to what it is today but also so many athletes along the way.” A standing ovation followed.

Gary Paproski thanked the parents this season, the other coaches—particularly Wintonyk “who doesn’t get enough credit. The countless hours he spends for our senior football program are greatly appreciated. He’s built an incredible program here, a program which is the envy of many other teams. But that takes time and effort.” He also thanked the coaches’ wives and families and the players.

Anderson started in grades 11 and 12. Early this season, an injury kept him out of the lineup for the first month. When back, Anderson “quickly became a key to our offence,” said head coach Mitchell Wintonyk. He was “fun to watch,” as he preferred to run through opponents rather than around them, he said. Anderson gave back by volunteering, picking up batteries for the battery drive and building the new chain-link fence and the canteen, said Wintonyk.

Before the second game against Unity, he came to practice with a brace on, “saying he was good to go,” said Brendan Paproski earlier. The dubious coaches checked with his parents. They said, “they were OK with it and he really wanted to play,” said Paproski. Anderson explained his limping in Maple Creek by saying, “It’s not my knee. Everything else is hurting… We know for sure it was your knee. But there’s no way he wasn’t playing.” Anderson improved and became “one of our more impactful players once again,” he said.

James’ joy and passion for football were evident, he said. Her striving to improve in her four years and maturation in Grade 12 were “amazing to see,” such as at football camps, U-18 female tryouts, and making that team in back-to-back summers; creating a rig to catch long snaps in the basement; learning to lime the field; and taking a distance-learning football class, said Wintonyk. “We’re excited to see where football will take her, should she choose to go that route.”

Offensive lineman Fortin made “huge holes” for the running backs, fought through double teams, and often ended up on top of multiple opponents, said Brendan Paproski. He took over relaying plays to the offensive players when Nickel got injured, and Fortin made sure the backs and the other linemen knew their assignments, said Paproski.

Besides being highly skilled, Jordan Bouclin has “a high football IQ, raw athletic ability, and a level of aggression that is just perfect for this game,” said offensive line coach Graham Montreuil.

The growth that Nickel showed “is nothing short of impressive, not to mention playing his Grade 9 and 10 years with a metal tube in your body to aid your health,” said Brendan Paproski. After three years of waiting, 2025 was Nickel’s opportunity to start. “It couldn’t have started any better. We were 2-0, and he was having a great start to the season.” Nickel broke a wrist bone in Unity. “But Alex kept coming out to practice, helping with drills and providing insight where possible,” said Paproski. On the last practice of the year, he was able to get his cast off and practise with his teammates one more time, he said. Nickel dressed for the bronze-medal game and got in one more series to finish out his high school career, said Paproski.

After playing on the offensive line for most of 2024, Malcolm Ledding moved to running back and, when Anderson got injured, “stepped into a big leadership role,” said Brendan Paproski. In the game in Watrous, Ledding “found out his grandpa had passed away the night before, but he was determined to play.” He got hurt on the first series but “once again, there was no way he was coming off the field, giving us everything he had,” said Paproski. Ledding was only taken out “when he was no longer able to walk with three minutes left in the game,” he said.

Second-year Royal Harper Willis won the Rookie of the Year. He’s “shown a commitment to football, whether it’s going to camps or giving everything he has during games. He has high expectations for himself and is loaded with talent. We asked a lot of him at the start of the season and he responded with effort and a desire to get better,” said Gary Paproski, who admitted he forgot Willis was only in his second year of senior football. Willis tried to battle through a late-season injury but was unable to play in the bronze-medal game. The Royals will need him “to be a dominant force on offence next year, and if he continues to develop in the off-season, I believe he can be an exceptional player,” said Paproski.

Joseph Bouclin switched to a new position this year “and made an immediate impact in the middle of the defence,” said defensive coach Ben Cressman. “Your ability to come up with the big plays this year—a blocked punt, interceptions, big tackles—contributed to your winning the award this year. You have great instincts, and we have high expectations for you next season,” said Cressman.

Community coaches Justin Haugen, Graham Montreuil, and Ben Cressman received West Central District volunteer recognition awards.

Speaking generally, the Royals made mistakes, and in the playoffs, while they got away with them against the Hague Panthers, they didn’t in Watrous and against Wakaw, said Wintonyk.

Whether the 49 players are a record for the size of the roster wasn’t something the head coach spoke of. But for James Friesen, a Grade 12 rookie—which is occasionally seen in high school football—had there not been so many players to accommodate this season, he might have had an opportunity to get on the field in a league game, said Wintonyk.