The North Catches Football Fever
- Mike Gosselin | December 14, 2013
It was cold, the teams played tough and the game was a classic football shootout.
In the end, the Pinehouse Lakers defeated the Buffalo Narrows Eagles 50-32 to win the Ralph Pilz Trophy. It was the first ever high school football championship game in Northern Saskatchewan.
And it was exciting for more than just the players involved.
"There's only one road in and out of Pinehouse," said Lakers head coach Curtis Chandler. "When the team arrived back in town from Buffalo Narrows after the win, fifty cars lined the road and shone their headlights on us. In all, about 250 people welcomed us home.
"They were proud of the work their boys accomplished. It was a special moment."
Ladies and gentlemen, football fever has hit the north.
Lakers tailback Johnny Tinker lit up the opposing defence for seven touchdowns. But the one man wrecking crew was quick to credit the community around him for his success.
"I was actually going to quit at the beginning of the season. I just didn't like football. But my family, my coaches and my teammates encouraged me to stick it with it. And I'm happy I did."
So is his community. In total, Tinker scored 15 touchdowns in three playoff games to help his team overcome a losing record in the regular season and win the big game.
"When we started playing, we were friends playing football. Now we're family."
In an exhibition season intended to measure whether or not high school football is feasible in the North, the seven participating communities proved there's no lack of support.
"Like most communities in the North, Pinehouse is generally supportive of their athletic teams," Chandler explained. "But football was brand new. And most folks here were not familiar with it."
But the Northern spirit quickly kicked in as over two hundred people showed up for Lakers home games.
Chandler said fan support for the championship was just as impressive.
"About 220 people made the two hour drive from Pinehouse to Buffalo to come watch us. And when they all rushed the field after we won... Oh man, what a feeling!"
It was an amazing end to a season that, until the playoffs, had more downs than ups.
"We were 1-3 in the regular season but I knew we had the athletic talent to be successful," Chandler said. "It just took the team awhile to figure out how to work together."
With such a successful first season, it seems the sky's the limit for the Pinehouse Lakers and football in the North. Fittingly, Johnny Tinker is starting to dream big.
"I'd like to continue playing football. Maybe even play Junior."
And it's something Coach Chandler loves to hear.
"There are a lot of great athletes in Northern Saskatchewan. And if given the right opportunity in a sport like football, there's no reason why they couldn't play for the Hilltops or Thunder.
"Who knows, we could even see some players with the Riders or Argos in six, seven years."
It takes a community to raise a football player and, by the sounds of it, Pinehouse has the potential to become a gridiron powerhouse.