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Elecs football team opens camp this week

With an 0-6 season in their rear view mirror for 2017, the Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs football team is looking to make a big impact in 2018.
Elecs
Elecs player James Knibbs takes the ball on a handoff last year against the Weyburn Eagles in a pre-season scrimmage. File photo

With an 0-6 season in their rear view mirror for 2017, the Estevan Comprehensive School Elecs football team is looking to make a big impact in 2018.

“We’re really looking forward to having almost our entire team returning,” said head coach Mark Schott. “We graduated seven players from last year’s team and they were some pretty big pieces of our team last year, specifically on offensive and defensive line. But the youthful core of our team is all coming back and we’re adding some nice pieces that have come up through Estevan Minor Football.”

Camp opened with equipment handout Aug. 22 at the practice field by ECS, and then practice starts today, and Schott hopes the pieces they’ve added can add to some improvement on the field.

One of the key returning pieces on three sides of the ball is Hunter Eagles, who handled running back and kicking opportunities, as well as playing on defence, as a Grade 9.

“Hunter was a huge part of our team last year and we’re expecting another big year out of him as well this year,” Schott said. “He’s another year bigger and older and the league isn’t as new to him now. He had some good football experiences over the summer and we’re looking forward to bringing those experiences back to our team.”

Schott also notes the team is returning with leading receiver Nigel Mack, and a new young quarterback in Kaleb Bechtold, who played on the Estevan Lions Bantam Oilers last season.

“We’ll have James Knibbs at fullback and Jonah Bachorcik as part of a running back rotation as well,” Schott said.

A lot of the players that have been coming up through the Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football program have been getting different kinds of football experiences through the team Saskatchewan that went to Texas last year and through the Football Canada Cup that Eagles was involved in.

“There’s a lot of opportunity out there for players looking at getting some additional football experiences in during the offseason,” said Schott. “A number of players have done that over the years and three or four did that this past offseason. It’s great that these players play on the club teams and these all-star teams in various camps over the summer to make sure they get going here once we start up.”

The first week of camp leading into the Elecs’ pre-season scrimmage at Weyburn Aug. 31 will be focused on fundamentals.

“A number of our players have good technique and tendencies already,” Schott said. “We want to make sure as a team… we have proper tackling and technique down and crisp route running and one-on-one coverage, and things like that. We instill those fundamentals into our players and our team, then we can shift our focus over to team systems, offensive, defensive and special teams.”

The Elecs will once again be playing in the Moose Jaw High School Football League, which includes the Peacock Tornadoes, Central Cyclones and Vanier Vikings out of Moose Jaw, as well as Weyburn, Yorkton Regional Raiders and Swift Current Colts.

The Elecs first game of the season is Sept. 14 at Moose Jaw’s Gutheridge Field, where they’ll play Peacock and their first home game is Sept. 18 at Woodlawn Field against Vanier. 

“A lot of the Moose Jaw teams have a pretty well developed minor football program that feeds into their teams, so they seem to have a fairly even number especially between grades 11 and 12 every year, so they’re pretty balanced in that way,” said Schott. “Weyburn has the high 30s in numbers and they have some players that have fed into their program from Weyburn minor football, which they have strong numbers in that program.”

But it was Swift Current and Yorkton who made it into the league final last year and Schott expects them to be strong again this year.

“It should be a tough and competitive league and we’re hoping to improve on our record from last year and be in the mix come playoff time,” Schott said.