The junior varsity Hapnot Kopper Kings made their way down to Riverton Collegiate on Oct. 5 for a tournament.
The Kings started the tournament hot with a nail-biter 25-24, 25-24 match against the Arborg Athletics, then with a 20-25, 25-17 win against the host Riverton Patriots. The pair of victories took the Kings into the playoff bracket with no losses and gave them a bye into the semi-final round.
In the semis, the Kings encountered Arborg again, beating them 19-25, 25-19, 15-11 in the rubber match. That set up another rematch between Hapnot and Riverton in the tournament final.
Hapnot dropped the first set 13-25, but came on strong later, taking the next two games 25-11, 15-11 and winning the match and tournament.
Hapnot’s senior Kweens have been busy, playing in two tournaments already this month. The club started October with the Beef and Barley tourney on Oct. 5, hosted by Major Pratt School in Russell.
Hapnot finished second in its pool, going 3-1 and beating Hamiota, Goose Lake and Major Pratt while losing to Strathclair.
In the playoff round, Hapnot fell victim to an unfortunate draw, facing Strathclair again. The Skyhawks would go on to beat Hapnot 17-25, 18-25, knocking the Hapnot girls out of the tournament.
One week later, the team was back in action in Killarney, facing 11 other teams in one of the year’s largest tournaments so far.
In their six-team pool, the Kweens finished fifth, grabbing wins against Goose Lake and hosts Killarney.
The Kweens had better luck in the playoff bracket, going up against Killarney again in the first round and beating them once more, winning 25-18, 21-15, 15-8. That win set up a showdown between Hapnot and a powerhouse club from Warren, a game the Kweens lost 19-25, 8-25. Warren went on to win the tournament, giving the Kweens a fifth-place finish in the 12 team tournament.
Football
Despite a topsy-turvy season, the Creighton Kodiaks planned to play a final game against the Hudson Bay Riders on Oct. 18. Days before the planned meeting, Hudson Bay cancelled, ending the season for the Kodiaks.
“We were practising pretty hard and the guys were excited,” said Ryan Karakochuk, Kodiaks head football coach.
“We’re going to have conclude our year that way.”
The Kodiaks’ season ended with a 3-2 record, winning all three games against western Saskatchewan teams by wide margins but losing to regional opponents Sandy Bay and Cumberland House.
Sandy Bay and Cumberland House faced off in the Ralph Pilz Trophy game for the league title on Oct. 20 in Prince Albert. Cumberland House came out on top, beating the T-Wolves 44-14. Both teams will go on to play conference playoff games against central Saskatchewan opponents.
Starting the season against the rival T-Wolves, the Kodiaks played without three of their four senior players. Corbin Collier, Noah Dickens and Kaylab Ranks were unable to play due to injuries. In the end, Sandy Bay walked away with a 38-12 win.
After a 72-0 win against a debutant La Loche team, the Kodiaks played heavy favourite Cumberland House in Creighton, in what would turn out to be the team’s most crucial game of the season. Despite a late push and a last-minute drive that brought Creighton within 10 yards of a game-winning touchdown, the Kodiaks lost 16-12 to the Islanders.
“That really came down to the wire. We were a minute away, on the 10-yard-line, from scoring and winning that game,” said Karakochuk.
“We’d missed three field goals, which we never do – not because [kicker] Blake [Alexander] missed them, but because the snaps just didn’t go back nice. We left nine points out there. When I talked to the other team’s coach, he said we were the better team that game, we’d just left too many points out there.”
The Kodiaks ended with 60-plus point outings against Pinehouse and Beauval, but ended up in third place in league standings, behind both Sandy Bay and Cumberland House.
