Senior Royals and Wildcats gear up for playoffs, Juniors keep hunting
By David McIver
One senior football team awaits a provincial playoff opponent, while another sought on Saturday to secure a spot in the playoffs, and their junior counterparts either lost or won and continue on the playoff hunt.
Ethan Longworth (L, front, 44) and especially Mark Mofolasayo (obscured) of the senior Rosetown Royals tackle Rylan Fauth of the Unity Warriors on a kickoff return early in the second quarter here on Oct. 10. Cale Morris (7), Brandon Friesen (8), and Joseph Bouclin (96) watch. The Royals won 49-40 to finish first in 2A Conference 1 and will host a provincial playoff quarterfinal on Saturday. Photo by David McIver
The senior Rosetown Royals, champions of 2A Conference 1, will host the Hague Panthers, runners-up in Conference 4, on Saturday.
The North West Central Wildcats, third place in 1A Conference 1, were to travel to Kerrobert on Saturday to play the second-place Rebels, after press time for this issue. The winners will host the champions of Conference 4, which include Lemberg and Carrot River, who finished first and second in the regular season.
The Rosetown Junior Royals lost 46-42 to the Outlook Junior Blues here on Wednesday, finishing their season with five wins and one loss.
The Plenty Junior Wildcats defeated the Junior Sabres 48-28 in Macklin on Friday. The Junior Wildcats have a playoff game in Eatonia later this week.
The senior Royals enter the game a little banged up. Cale Morris, for the second consecutive game, will start at quarterback in place of Alex Nickel, who is out with a broken finger.
Offensive end Klaas Woudwijk is out for the season, having injured his wrist in the Oct. 10 home game against Unity. Woudwijk “didn’t sound too bad” and is happy to hear he will be back in his other sports by the end of November, said Royals head coach Mitchell Wintonyk.
Woudwijk had been splitting time with Wyatt Perry at that position.
“Wyatt will be comfortable there as he's played all season. We are also getting Avery Wilinski back and will work him back into the mix on the offensive line,” said Wintonyk.
On Thursday night, the Panthers, 4-2 for second in Conference 4, defeated the Shellbrook Aardvarks, who were 2-4 for third.
Complete statistics weren’t available, but against the Junior Blues, Henry Wiens scored four touchdowns, all by rushing. Asher Purcell rushed for one touchdown. Quarterback Emery Carlson plunged forward one yard for the Royals’ last major.
Lauri Kamula, No. 21, scored at least three Blues touchdowns. The Blues had six Grade 9 players, including the particularly large No. 77, Ander Suderman.
The Junior Royals showed grit “all season and especially in this game against Outlook,” said Rosetown head coach Kent Carlson.
The Junior Blues were “far and away the most physical and biggest team we played all year, and our kids didn’t give up,” said Carlson.
The Grade 9 Blues “physically dominated some of our players, but we didn’t back down,” said Carlson.
“Kyler Ptolemy kept getting knocked down, but he didn’t quit. Jett Johnston tackled guys that were six feet tall and didn’t complain. Kix Kampen played his heart out against guys twice his size,” said Carlson.
Wiens, Purcell, and Carlson “all ran the ball with aggression and tried to match their physicality. Owen St. John, Nixon Dyok, and Caleb Woudwijk opened up holes for our running backs and gave Emery time to throw, even though the guys they faced were much bigger than them,” said the coach.
“The growth of our team from our first jamboree in Biggar until the last game against Outlook was phenomenal. We were worried that we would be in a rough spot after the first weekend, but the team turned it around in a big way,” said Carlson.
“A huge thanks” goes to the coaching staff: assistants John McPhee, Rob Gregor, and Carlson himself. “Without solid coaching, these turnarounds don’t happen,” he said.
Emerson Summach rushed for all six of the Junior Wildcats’ touchdowns in Macklin on Friday, said head coach Morgan Rousseaux. “We had some good defence. We had lots of guys playing both ways.” Lane Bacon had a fumble recovery that led to the Wildcats taking the lead, said Rousseaux.
The Junior Wildcats finished third in the North-West Junior Football League, behind first-place Unity and second-place Eatonia Spartans, and ahead of the Macklin Sabres. They will travel to Eatonia later this week for a playoff game. As well, the Sabres will play in Unity, and the winners will square off in the league final next week.