Spartans Seize City U12 Crown
To the cheers of by far the largest crowd of the years the Spartans grabbed the U12 Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League championship 46 - 8 over the Lions.
A blowout?
Hardly.
The Lions would grab an initial lead with, at that time, a tie game at half time.
It was not easy for the favourite Spartans to take control of the game.
But in the end the Spartans defeated the Lions based upon touchdowns in the third and fourth quarters.
Hoisting the championship trophy - MJ Independent photo
The start of the U12 championship was not a typical U12 game.
The game was not a ground game but the first four touchdowns of the game were by passing.
Spartans head coach Brock Montgomery said the game more or less followed the team’s game plan.
Get ahead and force the Lions into a difficult air game aware from their expected ground game.
“It was a good check for the boys,” he said about the initial Lions lead and tied game through the first half of play.
“You cannot play the Lions three times and expect them not to score. It’s unrealistic. They’re really good team. We knew it was going to be a tight battle so maybe the score that early (1:30 into the game) allowed the boys to settle in (early). After that score they settled in and played good football.”
A Spartans touchdown - MJ Independent photo
Despite the tie at halftime, Montgomery said the team never changed anything to match the Lions tough play.
“We didn’t change anything at halftime. It was just more of us sticking to our positions and playing our role we’re supposed to be doing on the field.”
He said the game was a good game - especially for the fans - despite getting a little bit out of hand in the end.
“We put the pressure on them making it so they had to try to score and there was a lot of passes in the field. They’re a good team I mean it comes down to little things in games like this.”
The Lions’ offence warms up prior to the game - MJ Independent photo
Ask what the players alert this year Montgomery said it was teamwork.
“I don’t think we had a player who would win a game but working together as a team they could…it’s a true meaning of a team sport and I think football is that.”
He suspects the half of the team that is graduating will not leave football but move on to the U14 division.
The Lions Ryder Darroch described his two years in the U12 division as fun and he would be returning to play in U14 next season.
Asked what lesson he learnt in his final U12 year Darroch said “To try my hardest.
Regretting coming second, he said he was actually happy with the final result for the main reason is that they had “finally scored a point against a team” they had not scored on before.
Taking the early lead made Darroch feel “excited.”
Asked about the potential mixed feelings about the game Lions head coach Kellyn Bollinger said the game flip flopped.
“It was a very competitive first half and unfortunately the second half didn’t really go the way we wanted it to. There was two big turnovers we had and we had trouble moving the ball (in the second half),” Bollinger said.
“ It was difficult to get things moving, but that’s a great team over there.”
He said he was happy with how the season progressed.
The Lions’ offence warms up prior to the game - MJ Independent photo
“It was an amazing season. This is a great group of kids. I always have fun, coaching, his age group and I really enjoyed this group of kids, particularly.”
Being the only team to score eight points against the Spartans this year, Ballinger said was great, but it also was a testament to have the great kids they have on defence.
“It makes it really hard to get yards and get points,” he said.
Bollinger said he was excited about the group coming up for the Lions next year as well as happy to see so many players continuing their football careers in minor football.
“ I hope we can get back to this game this year and hopefully have a better result.”
