Oak Park wins high school JV football title

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This article was published 23/11/2022 (1411 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Oak Park Raiders junior varsity boys football team beat the Dakota Lancers 35-13 in the Winnipeg High School Football League JV Division championship game on Nov. 12 at Investors Group Field.

“The biggest thing this year was coaching. We had lots of young kids on the team that hadn’t played, especially on the defence side of the ball,” said Grade 10 linebacker and safety Owen Sampson. “Going into the championship game, we were definitely prepared and knew what was coming before the ball was even snapped.”

The Raiders became a team to beat early in the season after a 53-6 victory over the Vincent Massey Trojans. They then dominated the Steinbach Regional Sabres 68-12 before defeating the Trojans for a second time, this time by a score of 48-7.

Leading up to the championship game, the Raiders beat the Grant Park Pirates on Oct. 20, defeating them 22-7. On Nov. 2, the team crushed the Pirates again, 56-12.

“Winning it after having a long history of winning is a good feeling. We had lots of energy going into that game and were very excited,” said Grade 10 running back Onan Furst.

“We knew what we had to do and winning felt great for all of us.”

“I was on the team last year, and Dakota was definitely a big rivalry,” Grade 10 offensive and defensive lineman Cole Garriock added. “They have a really good program, and I think this year Dakota was a big team to play since we lost to them last year. Winning against them this year felt great, and showed that we’ve gotten better.”

Chad MacKay, who coaches the Raiders JV team and teaches math at Oak Park High School, attributes this season’s success to a strong group of Grade 10 players.

“ They’ve got a lot of guts...

“They really led the team, and not just on the field. They showed great leadership in the locker room and in practice, and that really helped the younger guys and guys who hadn’t played in awhile or at all,” MacKay said. “They also had high expectations. We lost to Dakota in the championship game last year. We were pretty frustrated after that game, and we went in this year with the mentality we weren’t going to lose again.”

After having time off the field due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team was determined to be successful.

“There’s this history with Oak Park. We have guys in the Grey Cup right now (Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Brady Oliveira and Nic Demski, and Toronto Argonauts’ running back Andrew Harris) that won championships while here, so we really tried to get that history and winning mentality back into our program,” MacKay said.

In order to get ready for the championship game, the team watched film and strategized. Good chemistry also helped the team mesh well on and off the field.

“As the season went on, our chemistry together got even better,” Garriock said. “We were all pretty strong together as a team. We had lots of energy all season. We’re an energetic team and we’ve always been.”

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