It’s back to the sidelines for another season for the Creighton Kodiaks. The team’s hopes of becoming the first northern Saskatchewan team to win a provincial title ended last weekend with a quarterfinal loss.
The Kodiaks’ luck ran out in Rosetown Oct. 26, with the sole northern team in the provincial playoffs going down 62-12 to the second-seed Royals. Rosetown owned the game from the jump, going up 16-0 after the first quarter and 32-6 at halftime.
Creighton came in down three of their best players - defensive star Brayden Ayers, bellcow running back Payton Pelletier and starting quarterback Josh Trumbley, each gone due to injuries. The defence was able to keep things close until just before halftime, when things unravelled.
“I thought defensively, we played unbelievable,” said Kodiaks head coach Ryan Karakochuk.
“We caused a couple of fumbles we fought and jumped on. We had three quarterback sacks. It was 16-6 with about four minutes left in the half, but we couldn’t sustain it.”
With the team resorting to playing backups at several key positions, the Kodiaks took another big hit - literally. Backup quarterback Rylan Grondal, who played strong in the Kodiaks’ final regular season game against Hague, was concussed following a tackle early in the first quarter, pressing two-way player Kaleb Lycan into service behind centre. Another injury came when starting wideout Matthew Lavis was hurt on a long gain, pressing even more young players into key roles.
“I was at the point where I really didn’t know what plays to call - we were basically just throwing stuff to Rogan (Hlady) and to Brody (Grant) and Myles (Koivisto), but they’re all being called to do things they haven’t done all year,” said Karakochuk.
Kwinton Lycan and Jordan Donaghy both got banged up later in the game but stayed in to play. The undermanned Kodiaks could not keep up with a much larger Rosetown roster that had gone undefeated through the season, with the scores piling up later in the game.
“They just wore us down,” said Karakochuk.
“Not to make excuses - they’re a fantastic team and well-run - but for us to win a game like that, we need all our horses and everyone playing at the highest level. Unfortunately, we just kept losing guys and couldn’t stay with them for a long period of time.”
The loss ends the Kodiaks’ season on the gridiron. Creighton’s season, their second one in a southern Saskatchewan-based conference, will end with a 4-3 record, losing only to teams that also qualified for provincial playoffs - Rosetown and undefeated Wakaw. That is a far cry from the past, particularly when the Kodiaks played in northern-based leagues, when the team would often win league championships but then lose to southern teams in lopsided provincial playdown games. Until last fall, the Kodiaks had never beaten a southern team - that changed with a win over winless Rosthern, the Kodiaks’ only win last season.
This year, the Kodiaks took their first-ever wins over teams from Hague and Shellbrook, beating both twice - once at home and once on the road.
A big part of the change was the play and leadership from the team’s Grade 12 players - all 11 of them, each of whom has played their final snap of high school football. That includes Ayers, Ashton Burden, Evan Davis, Donaghy, Hlady, Cory Lane, Ethan Lavis, Kaleb Lycan, Zac Merasty, Bodyn Simon and Trumbley. Karakochuk said the fourth-year players provided not only quality play, but an example for younger players to follow on and off the field.
“They brought leadership. They brought accountability. They showed how to be role models for the younger kids. You can’t win football games or have a successful year without great leaders and without great seniors - and we had that this year,” said the coach.
“They were great Kodiaks, led by example and played hard. They went through the northern league championship, made the transition into the south, took their lumps last year, learned what it took to play and had the best season we’ve ever had, probably, in our history.”
Rosetown will move on to play in a provincial semifinal game against Clavet this weekend, while the Kodiaks’ in-conference rival Wakaw will face Southey on the other side of the bracket.
Meanwhile, the Kodiaks will host an awards night and banquet for this year’s team at an unknown date, likely next month.
