The Creighton Kodiaks high school football team will switch divisions this coming season, going to a new league with southern Saskatchewan teams and stiffer competition.
The squad, along with the Charlebois Community School Islanders from Cumberland House, will be leaving the Northern Saskatchewan Football League for the upcoming season and moving into new realigned divisions, facing off against more established six-man football programs.
“It happened pretty fast,” said Kodiaks head coach Ryan Karakochuk.
“I knew about this development about a month ago and it just sort of took off - a lot of things happened in a couple of weeks and I had to make a decision. I think I made the best one for our team, our development and for the northern league.”
Karakochuk is also the commissioner of the northern football league, the same one his team is now leaving. Karakochuk will stay on in that position for this season and plans to give it up next year.
Karakochuk has mulled a change for the Kodiaks for several seasons, but formally took the plunge this spring. When preparing for next season, several northern teams expressed a desire to go back to a two-tier league system, like the league did in 2021 - a first tier for established and competitive teams and a second one for teams with newer, less established programs. Once feedback came in, Karakochuk found out that only two teams would be left in the higher tier - the Kodiaks and Cumberland House. As Creighton is a 2A program for football and Cumberland House is a 1A program, that would mean the two teams would only play competitive games against each other and both teams would be guaranteed a shot at provincial play at the end of the season.
“We actually thought, going into this season, we would stay one more year. We were going to stay one more year, make the announcement some time this year that we were leaving, at the end of the season maybe,” said Karakochuk.
“We’d probably have someone else take over as commissioner and leave that way. I think our best team might be coming up in 2024 - but we got into meetings and teams were discussing going back to the two-tier system.”
Karakochuk then had a call with a representative with the Saskatchewan High School Athletics Association (SHSAA) where he was told that the province’s existing football conferences were being realigned this year and that both Creighton and Cumberland House would likely be accepted if they applied to join new leagues. Both teams did and both teams were approved.
“All 1A teams are going to play together - there is no more going to be any 1A/2A conferences together. They were realigning and they said, ‘This is a good time for you and Cumberland to leave. We're going to realign and our board meetings are coming up - I'm pretty certain they will approve you,’” said Karakochuk.
League layouts
With the change, the remaining northern teams - the Hector Thiboutot T-Wolves from Sandy Bay, the Pinehouse Lakers, the Senator Myles Venne Huskies from Air Ronge, the Chief Ahtahkakohp Titans from Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, La Loche Lakers and Beauval Voyageurs - will face off against each other for the Ralph Pilz Trophy as northern champions, but will not advance through to provincial play. The Kodiaks and Islanders, who combined for an 11-2 record last season, losing only to each other, will now head out to play different opponents and can play up the ladder for provincial glory.
In their new league, the Kodiaks will face several schools the team has played against in provincial games - the Hague Panthers, the Rosthern Longhorns, the Wakaw Warriors, the Shellbrook Aardvarks and the Birch Hills Marauders. Birch Hills, Shellbrook and Wakaw have each played the Kodiaks in provincial games in the past - and all three teams beat Creighton.
The realignment also means the Kodiaks and Islanders will no longer play each other in competitive play, along with no more games between Creighton and Sandy Bay.
Karakochuk says the change will give the Kodiaks more competitive play and that new rivalries will develop in time.
“It’s going to be better competition. It's going to mean better home games, as far as competition and crowd and that just that whole competitive balance. For travel, it doesn't change. Honestly, I think this schedule gives us a few more closer games - it’s a similar schedule and we can avoid long drives on gravel roads,” said Karakochuk.
“I think it's better for our fans, especially our alumni coming from Saskatoon - we're right on that highway. I think we could get a lot of fans come watch us when we go to Hague and we go to Rosthern - I think that's exciting. It means I’ve got to coach better and our players are going to have to play better. We have no freebies.”
