Let's Talk High School Football

Tomorrow (SAT) is a BIG day for local High School Football.

EAST CENTRAL 9-MAN SEMI-FINALS

I like covering the East Central 9-Man Conference because all 6 teams (Yorkton, Melville, Canora, Esterhazy, Fort Qu'Appelle, Swan River) are in the listening area. So I get to talk to all the coaches, and of course we run our East Central 9-Man reports Wednesdays at 9:45. I always post the most recent show on the High School Football page. This week's guest was Fort Qu'Appelle Marauders' Head Coach Kevin Baron. To the best of my knowledge there's no website for the league, so I created a page to try and keep up to date with the schedule/standings, etc. If you've never seen it, here's the link . Anyhow, here's a little preview for each Semi Final matchup based on those numbers.

Canora Cougars (3) @ Swan Valley Tigers (2)
Saturday 2:00 (MB Time)

Tigers

* 4-1 record during the regular season, earning them a bye to the semi finals as the second seed.

* Offense was their strength this season, leading the league with 192 points scored in 5 games (38.4/game). However, that side of the ball suffered 3 key injuries in their first place showdown against Melville to wrap up the regular season 2 weeks ago. The Tigers will be without their top 2 RB's, and one of their starting TE's for this one. All 3 are Grade 12's.

* Swan Valley's defense gave up the fourth fewest points in the 6 team league, surrending 128 points from the opposition (25.6/game). Their points for and against ratio was second best in the league (+64).

Cougars

* Canora went 3-2 in the regular season, good for third place. They had to get by the (2-3) Yorkton Sacred Heart Saints (34-18) in the quarter finals to make the final four.

* They didn't score a pile of points, but gave up even less. The Cougars put up 105 points this season (21/game), while surrendering 103 (20.6/game). Their offense ranked them fourth in the EC9M Conference, while their stingy defense was second best.

Head-to-Head

On September 26th in Canora, the Tigers beat the Cougars 20-16 on a last-minute touchdown.

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Fort Qu'Appelle Marauders (6) @ Melville Cobras (1)
Saturday 1:00

Cobras

* By far the best points for and against ratio in the league (+125). Second best offense, scoring 181 points (36.2/game).

* Defense wins championships, and the Cobras boasted by far the most smothering 'D' in the regular season, giving up just 56 points in 5 games (11.2/game). 27 of them came from Swan Valley in the last game of the regular season. Before that, the Cobras had given up a microscopic 29 pts in 4 games (7.25).

* Melville hasn't played since that game against Swan Valley on October 3rd. Their 5-0 record earned them a first round bye.

* If the Cobras win tomorrow, they would automatically clinch the league title and take the #1 seed from the EC Conference into provincials which start Oct 25.

Marauders

* Wasn't the greatest of regular seasons for the guys from Fort Qu'Appelle, ranking last in both offense and defense, but they won the game that counted last week, as the (0-5) Marauders beat the (1-4) Esterhazy Warriors 22-16 to advance.

* Fort Qu'Appelle scored 83 points (16.6/game) and gave up 230 (46/game) this season.

Head-to-Head

On September 25th, the Cobras beat the Marauders 35-9.

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NORTH EAST 9-MAN SEMI-FINALS

Two more local area teams square off in one of the two semis with the second place Foam Lake Panthers hosting the third place Wynyard Golden Bears.

The 1-4 matchup has the Humboldt Mohawks on home field vs the Tisdale Tornadoes. I've heard from a few coaches in the East Central Conference that Humboldt's the real deal and the favourite this year. Assuming they get by Tisdale, Humboldt will host the #2 seed from the EC Conference, which will be the winner of the Swan Valley / Canora game, as long as Melville wins their semi and takes the #1 seed. Confusing? Lots of words, but easy to follow when you look at the draws.

http://www.shsaa.ca/pdfs/2008/football_website_October%203.pdf

RIFL 12-Man

The Yorkton Regional Raider Gridders (3-3) round out their regular season at home tomorrow against the Notre Dame Hounds (3-3) at 2:00 @ Century Field. It'll be a playoff preview, as the two teams will finish 4th and 5th regardless of who wins. And with all playoff games in Regina, home field's not even on the line tomorrow, but for the Grade 12's it means a lot, with it being their last home game. To play another home game, the Raiders would have to win the Regina City Final and host the Provincial Final. There'll be some big dogs in their way who have something to say about that, ie: Weyburn, O'Neill, but anything's possible, the Raiders are better than a .500 team too.

6-Man

Since I'm talking about all tomorrow's stuff, I figure I should toss in that TODAY, it's the final day of regular season games in the East Central 6-Man Conference. 4 games, they all start at 4:00.

Southey @ Preeceville*
Kelvington @ Carrot River
Hudson Bay @ Raymore
Ituna @ Kelliher

*Preeceville will host Prince Albert Collegiate in the first round of Provincials Saturday, October 25th. I shouldn't say for sure, but don't be surprised if that game's on the radio. I had a chance to do a game in Preeceville this time last year and it went over really well.