Funk headlines Steinbach Regional Sabres football awards

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This article was published 12/12/2023 (553 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Steinbach Regional Secondary School football team’s annual banquet was a little more chipper this year.

The team recorded a solid record after the provincial league was re-aligned and managed to make the eight-team top level playoff bracket, cementing their place as a premier program in Manitoba. Last season the varsity team went winless in a top-heavy division.

Program co-ordinator Jamie Peters said during the Nov. 30 event he wasn’t measuring the program’s success in the win column. Instead, he looks for players to show growth on and off the field throughout the season.

“I love to win, I hate to lose — most of us do — but winning doesn’t define a successful season,” Peters said.

“We can all sit here and say we improved a lot, during the season. We learned to battle, compete and work towards a common goal.”

Despite the varsity team’s success, the program wasn’t able to fulfill their goals, failing to field a full junior varsity team this season. Peters said the move to only have a single team paid off, with more competitive practices, and more cohesive systems.

“It was not an easy decision for our staff to pull out of the junior varsity 9s league,” he said.

“We did our best for that not to become a reality. Ultimately, and unfortunately it was what was best for the program long-term. It helped re-build commitment, dedication and culture.”
Peters said the program must do a better job recruiting athletes, noting that half of the players who suit up for the Sabres have not played football before high school.

Jeffery Bannon, the commissioner of the Winnipeg High School Football League (WHSFL), was set to coach the junior varsity team before taking his league position. He brought greetings from the league, and was full of praise for the SRSS operation as a whole, calling the team one of the most well-run across western Canada.

“The talent in this program is limitless,” Bannon said.

“There’s two programs in the WHSFL, and then there’s 29 teams. That’s St Paul’s and Steinbach… At the end of the day, everywhere I go, every official I talk to, every opponent I talk to, they are impressed with the Steinbach Sabres.”

There was no drama to who would be awarded the varsity team’s most valuable player award. Mason Funk finished with 41 tackles and added more than 500 yards of offense and seven touchdowns on the other side of the ball. Funk was the first Sabre to win the WHSFL’s Blue Bomber Alumni Association Award, which was given to him earlier in the week at the league awards ceremony.

Funk, the team’s leading tackler and rusher in 2023, will be suiting up for the University of Manitoba Bisons next season.

“More important than all the stats, was the way he responded to being a leader of our team,” Peters said, recalling how the coaching staff challenged him to be more supportive to players who didn’t have the football talent he did.
“He answered that challenge, and exceeded our expectations.”

The Sabres also awarded three program awards in addition to the team awards, including the Koby Award, named after long-time coach Brian Kobylak. Kobylak spent five years coaching in Steinbach. Across his 20-year high school coaching career, he gave out an award to a player who wasn’t noticed on the stat sheet, but still immensely helped the program.

After Kobylak’s death in 2017, the Steinbach program has continued that tradition. The 2023 award went to Marcus Johnson, who earned the award after a monster year on the practice field. Coach Andrew George presented the award, noting Johnson was needed to line up at all five receiver positions during practice this season due to injuries.

“People are reluctant to bounce around like that, and it started to pay off with the other guys,” George said.

“When our junior varsity guys started to practice with us, I noticed Johnson guide the young guys.”

After more injuries, Johnson even saw reps at running back during practices. That effort came with no expectation of playing time.

“Sometimes I’d look back on the bench, and there were games we just couldn’t get him in,” George said.

“No matter what the situation, whether it be in practice or in game, we knew that (Johnson) was ready to go and we grew more and more confident about that.”

The other program awards were won by Jack Leppelman (leadership) and Gavin Neufeld (legacy)

Varsity Awards

Most Improved Player – DJ Houle
Top Offensive Player – Zane Friesen
Top Defensive Player – Jackson Gamaldo
Most Valuable Player- Mason Funk
Special Teams Player – Bradey Dornez
Top Lineman – Ryan Deschauer / Kean Thorvaldson

Junior Varsity Awards

Most Improved Player – Angelo Stoyanov
Top Offensive Player – Eric Barnard
Top Defensive Player – Carter Doerksen
Most Valuable Player – Braeden Sinclair
Special Teams Player – Ryan Martin
Top Lineman – Seth Friesen

Program Awards

Koby Award – Marcus Johnson
Leadership – Jack Leppelman
Legacy – Gavin Neufeld