Richard Froese
South Peace News
The Peace River Pioneers were crowned the champions in the first official season of the Alberta High School 9-a-Side Football League.
The No. 2 seeded Pioneers edged the No. 3 Ponoka Broncs 19-18 in overtime in the final Nov. 22 at Grande Prairie on a frigid and snowy night.
Tobin Thomas kicked the ball through the end zone to win the game and win the championship for the Pioneers, who trailed 15-0 at halftime.
Jakob Nousek scored a touchdown on a quarterback sneak in the second half to narrow the Ponoka lead to 15-6.
Tate Cousins scored the second Peace River touchdown on an interception.
The Pioneers took their first lead of the game – 18-15 – on a touchdown by Kylan Rebalkin.
Ponoka scored a field goal late in the game to even the score 18-18 to send the contest into overtime.
Head coach Mark Owens says the players were more than thrilled to win the championship and worked hard to overcome the deficit.
“We set our goals to be at this game,” Owens says.
“This was the first game this season we saw diversity and we had to rethink how to approached it.”
He says the players responded and found their spark after trailing at the half.
“It might have taken us a half game to find it, but once we did, losing was not an option,” Owens says.
“Once we got into overtime, we just had to get close enough and we knew we had a kicker who could put it through the end zone for the win in the most traditional Canadian way.”
He says the players deserve credit.
“We are super proud of our players,” Owens says.
“They were committed to give everything they had and it showed on the field.”
Other players on the championship team included Rowan Shannon, Austin Toner, Deo Mapacpac, Noah Ruether, Justin Neufeld, Nevin Bettenson, Evan Bozarth, Alex Kenny, Noah Foreman, Cody Robinson, Kolby Davis, Cooper Jebb, Koda Owens, Kamal Deogatias, Dylan Smith, Peter Klassen, Berkley Ferguson, Rockwell Plante, Keyan Owens, Tarek Laurin and Kyle Nylund-Grondin.
Other coaches included Pat Coates, Brooks MacDonald, Taylor Hulme, Darcy Thomas, Mike Kenny and Arthur Sunday.
The Pioneers avenged a loss in the final last season when the Camrose Trojans defeated Peace River 31-14 in Camrose in the second season of the league.
In the inaugural season, the Pioneers lost 26-13 to the Edson Pacers in the semifinals.
Competing in the 12-player game, the Pioneers played in three provincial championships, but lost all three games.
Peace River lost to Cardston 8-6 in 2010, Brooks 23-7 in 2009 and Cochrane 57-14 in 2003.