Raiders stand tall

The Oak Park Raiders finally got theirs.

After their last two seasons ended in heartbreak at the hands of the Dakota Lancers, the Raiders narrowly escaped the same outcome for the third year in a row, triumphing 22-17 over the Lancers to capture the Winnipeg High School Football League AAAA tier 1 varsity championship at Princess Auto Stadium on Thursday.

A fumble by the Raiders, deep in their own territory with 18 seconds remaining, gave the Lancers late hope, but Oak Park’s defence stood tall one last time to end an 11-year championship drought for the program and end Dakota’s two-year reign.

“It’s amazing,” said two-way player Amyas Furst, who had a long touchdown run in the second quarter and secured an interception in the late moments of the contest. “We’ve grinded all year for this. The bond we have with this group, you can’t break it. We had some struggles at the start of the year, but we really found it. We found our click, and now, you can see we won it now — beautiful.”

Oak Park jumped out to a 10-0 lead early on, but Dakota clawed back with 17 unanswered points.

Backed up deep in their own territory, with the game tied at 17-17, the Lancers chose to play for field position and concede a safety in a game in which points were at a premium. While they had a fair chance to make good on that decision, the offence’s best possession ended on an interception by star two-way player Tavin Parani.

“Ecstatic,” said Parani, who was named the game’s Most Valuable Player. “Dakota, coming off a two-peat, about to get a three-peat, man, it means so much to us. We’ve been at this for so long, and it was just a process with the team. We started off cold, hence the weather. But again, man, we ended up strong, and that’s exactly what we needed.”

With the temperature dipping and snow lightly blanketing the field before kickoff, both teams struggled to handle the ball throughout the game, which featured six fumbles and two blocked punts.

In many ways, the Raiders simply outlasted the Lancers.

The Lancers scored two touchdowns in the contest, first a 21-yard rumble by running back Reid Monkman before halftime to cut the Raiders’ lead to three, then a one-yard plunge by quarterback Khaleel Hosein that gave Dakota its first lead of the game.

The Raiders also scored two majors. Furst, who also had an impactful night returning kicks, scampered for a 65-yard touchdown to record the first big play of the game in the second quarter. After a blocked punt by the Raiders, quarterback Brayden Kohanski found Parani on a 31-yard catch and run to tie the game at 17-17 halfway through the fourth quarter.

Raiders kicker Rylan Patching-Bowen connected from six and 22 yards, while Lancers kicker Brady Templeton converted on a 16-yard field goal in the third quarter.

“It’s one of those things, you lose a couple times and you start questioning things you’re doing, and you’re like, ‘What’s it going to take for us to get over the hump?’” said Raiders head coach Chris Ollson.

“We’ve had some very, very good football players through this program the last couple of years, and we really thought we’d get it done with them. And to be honest, we came into this year thinking it was going to be more of a rebuild year, because we got young guys coming up and other than our big three — (receiver) Adam (Kilmister), Tavin and Amyus Furst — we’re not graduating a lot of guys. So, we’re looking pretty good for the next couple of years here.”

Before the game, those in attendance honoured the late Darius Hartshorne, a local high school football player who recently died days after sustaining a severe neck injury in a game. Both teams wore No. 57 decals in honour of Hartshorne on Thursday, and that all teams will wear the same decals throughout next season.

Earlier on Thursday, St. Norbert defeated Dryden 10-0 to win the AAA division crown. Elsewhere on championship week, Oak Park also claimed the junior varsity 12 crown in a 48-21 decision over Dakota; Crocus Plains knocked off Sturgeon Heights 30-12 to capture the AAAA tier 1 consolation; and Miles Macdonell triumphed 18-13 over Grant Park to win the junior varsity nines division.

West Kildonan and Elmwood will play for the AAAA tier 2 crown at Fort Garry Lions Football Club on Monday, in what will be the final game of the high school football season.

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca