Nine-a-side football taking WHSFL by storm

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/09/2024 (761 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s played on a smaller field. It takes fewer players. It’s exactly what commissioner Jeffrey Bannon expects to be the future of the Winnipeg High School Football League.

The WHSFL’s nine-on-nine junior varsity division has sprouted this season with six new schools — Miles Macdonell, West Kildonan, River East, John Taylor, Sturgeon Heights and Maples — joining to form a 10-team loop with Steinbach Regional Secondary, Vincent Massey (Brandon), Grant Park and Crocus Plains.

“I was not expecting this growth (this quickly),” said a happily surprised Bannon, who, upon being appointed commissioner last year, vowed to make a concerted effort to grow the nine-a-side division.

Nine-a-side is played on a 50-yard long field with the quarterback typically joined by one running back, three receivers and four offensive linemen. The downsized version of the sport has been a staple in Saskatchewan for decades and has gained popularity across the country along with six-on-six, seven-on-seven and flag football, as it has allowed smaller schools to field teams.

Here, larger programs can also use nine-a-side in JV to develop their Grade 9s and 10s who would otherwise see little playing time on a varsity team.

Grant Park head varsity coach Doug Kovacs, who also manages the JV team, enroled the Pirates in nine-a-side in 2022 as the program’s participation numbers recovered following the pandemic.

This season, the Pirates have a surplus of young players, which made it a natural fit to return the team to the division once again.

“Those schools that are starting the nine-man are going to see the benefits in three, four years when those kids become seniors,” said Kovacs, who coached Grant Park to an appearance in the AAAA varsity provincial championship last season.

“If they don’t play football, whether it’s (Grade) 9 or 12, the fruit dies on the vine. You can’t show them a video and teach them to play football.”

The WHSFL created a nine-a-side division in 2018, which featured four teams. It was the league’s first form of football to return following the pandemic.

Having seen the success of other provinces at the amateur level, Bannon believes nine-person football is the door to growth for the WHSFL. It’s the ideal format for smaller rural schools to field a varsity team and the best opportunity for junior varsity players to play.

He envisions a day when the WHSFL varsity level comprises a AAAA and AAA conference in 12-on-12 and a nine-a-side loop available to smaller programs across the province.

“I think it’s a phenomenal opportunity for growth,” Bannon said.

Added Kovacs: “Our coaches really like it, the kids like it. The field’s a little smaller but seems to be there’s more room on it so the collisions aren’t as big because you are dealing with a lot of kids who have never played before.”

Those words ring true with Maples head coach Jenn Humeny, who helped bring a JV team back to the Marauders’ program this year for the first time in more than a decade.

The Marauders have 32 players on the JV squad this season — only one has played football before this year.

“It’s going to help them understand the game. One of the challenges at Maples is a lot of our players don’t know the game at all,” Humeny said. “So, teaching them the game, the benefits of it, that was our main thought is just that we wanted to expose more kids because our kids wouldn’t be able to get the experience of playing in a football game if they were just on the varsity team.”

Maples was blanked 65-0 by Miles Mac in last week’s season opener. While certainly not a warm welcome for the group of first-timers, it was an experience that was never going to be weighed by the final score.

“The kids getting reps (Wednesday), that would’ve never happened in varsity for a lot of them, especially our Grade 9s,” Humeny said. “Our Grade 9s were out there the entire time. We were starting Grade 9s who had never played football before but they learned the safe contact, they understood how to tackle and we had them out there.

“They’re just excited to get out there, and they understand there’s (room to grow),” she continued. “We practice with our varsity team, as well… so they know what they’re working toward.

“They literally have someone to look up to and they’re like, ‘OK, I’m here for four days, maybe I can’t do that, but maybe in four years I will be able to.’”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam