Marauders football kicks off

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This article was published 08/10/2021 (1591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

At the beginning of the school year, Maples Marauders football head coach Peter Serrette wasn’t sure the high school would be able to field a team.

“We had six returning players from 2019, so we weren’t sure what was going to happen,” said Serrette. “But we opened up in September, and kids came. At sign-ups, we had probably about 30 the first day, and we have about 55 players right now.”

After the pandemic canned the 2020 football season (and just about every recreational activity available to teenagers), kids are champing at the bit, said Serrette.

“They’re pretty excited — excited to get out and do anything right now,” he said.

Serrette said older students signed up first and younger ones followed, but had the younger grades come sooner, the school could probably have fielded a junior varsity team as well.

But as it is, many younger players will likely have to bide their time to get game experience.

“It’s good they come out, so they’re practicing,” Serrette said. “And we’ll get them in the games when it’s safe to do so.”

But with only six Grade 12 students on the team, the team will have to be careful about who they put on the field.

“Most of our kids are in Grade 9, and they’re not quite ready to play against 12s,” Serrette said.

Serrette spoke to The Times as the team prepared to hit the gridiron for their season opener against the Daniel McIntyre Maroons.

Team morale was high, Serrette said.

“Energy levels are up. Lots of kids at practice, which was great,” he said.

The coach said he was focusing on instilling the basics of the game to his new players.

“It’s just getting those few new kids who are just playing football for the first time in the position and doing the right things,” he said. “That’s the challenge. We had an exhibition game last week against West Kildonan, and that went well — it was interesting.”

Another main emphasis at the beginning of the year is teaching players to tackle safely.

“Obviously we have a lot of new players, and we’re trying to make the game a little safer,” he said. “We’re teaching safe contact, basically how to take the head out of tackling.”

After that it’s skill development, such as how to block, he said.

It seems the Marauders made good on their initial practices in their season opener, as they beat Daniel McIntyre 24-8 on Oct. 1.