Steinbach Regional Sabres building for WHSFL season

The Steinbach Regional Secondary Sabres varsity football team has a tough challenge on their hands to start the Winnipeg High School Football League schedule.

The Sabres take on defending champions Oak Park at home in the first week of the season. In order to prepare for the challenge, the team scheduled an exhibition game against traditional powerhouses St Paul’s Sept. 3. After a first quarter battle which saw the Sabres fall behind just 3-0, they faded in the third quarter, going on to lose 43-0.

Head coach Stephen Fedus said after the game he liked the way the team played in the fourth quarter.

“It took a little while, but the team started responding better to the different situations that we were facing,” Fedus told The Carillon a day after the game.

“That part is promising and hopeful, and the big task will be to see how they respond in practice. Are you going to feel sorry for yourselves or are you going to commit to putting in the work to get better? We’ve been fortunate that traditionally the kids have chosen to get better.”

The Sabres need to get up to full speed fast with their schedule. Fedus said a pre-season game against St Paul’s was the best way to do that.

“We need to expose our kids to what the level is, what the expectations are and what the standards will be right away,” he said.

“They got an eye opener… We’ll have lots of teaching tape from that.”

The Sabres will boast one of the best receiving cores in the province this year, with three players suiting up for Team Manitoba at the U18 national championships earlier this year. Who will be delivering the ball to those receivers is still up in the air.

“We have a couple of quarterbacks who have really put in the time this off-season who have really put in some time,” Fedus said.

“They’ve even invested some time on their own going to some quarterback camps… We’re going to need that group to be successful as we develop our (offensive) line to get us to the point where we can run the ball consistently.”

Ryder Wallace, who was one of the best players in the league at offensive tackle and Eric Barnard, who was another top lineman, both graduated from the program last season. Wallace committed to the University of Manitoba, while Barnard moved to play with the Winnipeg Rifles in the junior ranks.

“We don’t have a Ryder Wallace this year, he’s a very, very good football player,” Fedus said.

“We might have a couple kids that are the grade 10 version of Ryder right now, we’ll see how they progress. We don’t have that kid that’s going to dominate the game by himself, they’re still going to be part of the team.”

The Sabres will open their season against Oak Park at A.D. Penner Park Sept. 11. Kick-off is at 5 p.m. The team will host their annual homecoming game Sept. 25 when they take on Crocus Plains.