SRSS Sabres head into final week with 2nd-place on the line

The Steinbach Regional Sabres clinched their place in the Winnipeg High School Football League Tier 1 play-offs, but will need an upset victory finish as the second seed in their conference.

The Sabres will finish no lower than third in the Potter Division, thanks to a dominant 39-0 win over the Sturgeon Heights Huskies Oct. 10. The victory moved Steinbach to 4-2 on the season before their final game of the year.

Wade Anderson led the way offensively, racking up more than 200 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Starting quarterback Angelo Stoyanov only needed four passing attempts in the first half before back-up Mason Wiebe was called into action.

“A win is a win, but this one was a little better quality of a win,” head coach Stephan Fedus said, comparing the result to the team’s 36-22 victory during homecoming the week before.

“I’d say we were still guilty of not paying quite as much attention to the details early in the game. We cleaned that up and stopped taking lazy penalties, the controllable penalties, one right before the ball is even snapped, and then we started having success on the scoreboard too.”

There will be no such margin for error this week for the Sabres, as they visit top contenders Oak Park. The Raiders defeated Dakota in the opening week of the season, and lead the division with a 5-1 record, only losing to cross-division rivals St Paul’s.

Steinbach has been strong against weaker competition this year, but when they played top competition for two games, they were blown out.

“What we’re needing to work on is that maturity level of competing all the time,” Fedus said.

“It’s easier to compete and go full speed when you’re having instant success. The thing we’re struggling with is when we’re playing the better teams, success isn’t easy… We have to find that maturity where we’re going to compete through that full speed all the time.”

If Steinbach can go on the road and pull off the upset Oct. 17, they’ll finish second in the conference and earn a much better seed in the playoffs. The top four teams from each conference make the playoffs.

Fedus said the time for changing and instilling the right mindset in the players has passed, and if the team is going to have a winning week of practice, it’s on them.

“(Players) have to find the motivation from themselves to be putting in their best effort in practice, so they they’re ready to put their best effort in the game, even in challenging situations,” Fedus said.

“That’s part of athletic maturity, emotional maturity, competitive maturity, however you want to phrase it. That’s something they have to work on. We’re there to support them, we’re teaching all the habits, we’re identifying it, but now it’s their choice.”

Fedus praised the work of the program’s junior varsity coaches, noting several players have joined varsity for practices and fit right in.

“They understand compete, they’ve joined practices and they’ve made our practices better,” Fedus said.

In Tier 2, the Springfield Sabres lost a heartbreaking game in the battle for top spot in the division. Springfield could have passed West Kildonan to claim top spot in the division, but instead lost a heart-breaker 7-6 and moved to 4-2 on the season. They sit in third place with one week to go.

The Sabres appeared to have tied the game. With a 0-0 tie throughout most of the game, Springfield finally conceded the first points of the game, only to score a touchdown of their own in the final minutes of the fourth quarter. The Wolverines rallied to block the ensuing extra point, giving them just enough of a margin to win the game outright.

The Sabres have a tough game on their final week of action, facing second-seeded Elmwood. A victory could push them to second place in the standings.