Sabres inviting community to annual homecoming game

There’s nothing like a homecoming for a high school football program, and for the Steinbach Regional Sabres, it couldn’t come at a better time.

The team is inviting the community and alumni to their varsity game Oct. 3 against River East, where there will be a DJ, half-time games from the Eastman Raiders and a canteen as the program celebrates its past, present and future.

“Homecoming is an opportunity to get a little bit more excitement, create a bit of a big-game, college-type atmosphere for out atmosphere,” program coordinator Jamie Peters said, also noting the team will honour their graduating seniors at the game.

“We’re looking to create some excitement as we’re approaching the back half here.”

The Sabres have stumbled after winning their first two games, getting shut out in consecutive games against top programs to drop to 2-2 in the Winnipeg High School Football League.

A 40-0 loss to Vincent Massey was followed up by a 49-0 drubbing by two-time defending champion Dakota. Despite the scorelines, Peters said the team saw improvement between the games, referencing the program’s motto ‘be better,’ as they hope to peak at the end of the season.

“We definitely applied some things from the Massey game to the Dakota game,” Peters said, noting a rash of injuries hasn’t helped matters.

“We’ve lost a number of players and that’s meant some players having to play both ways and we’ve actually just pulled up a (junior varsity) player for the rest of the season. We’ve got to go ‘next man up,’ and keep working to solve our problems.”

The Sabres as a program have traditionally risen in quality more than other teams throughout the football season, and the coaching staff is working hard to keep the players on track with their goals despite back-to-back shutouts.

“Our world, they want immediate gratification, they want instant feedback, they want instant success,” Peters said.

“Sometimes things that are worth something are hard. Sometimes things that are worth something mean you have to battle through a lot of adversity. It’s not going to be easy.”

The coaching staff is hammering home the fact high school football has the best teams for the age group in the province, with Dakota ranked as one of the top high school teams in Canada last year.

“I think our players need to hold their heads high when they lose to a team, even by this score,” Peters said.

“That’s something that I think hard for kids to understand. It’s hard for people to gain perspective to understand the historical perspective of the league.”

Kick-off for homecoming is at 4 p.m. at A.D. Penner Park. The team’s final home game of the regular season is Oct. 10 against Sturgeon Heights.