The Vanier Vikings might have seen their Conference 2 Nine-Aside Football League season come to end on Friday in Shaunavon, but it’s still safe to say it was as successful a campaign as they could have hoped for.
Despite dropping a 33-14 decision to Shaunavon in the league semifinal, there were many more positives to talk about than negatives -- as will be the case any time you’re an expansion team that found itself one win away from the final.
“Honestly, there were some uneasy feelings going into this, it’s a pretty big decision to switch leagues like that,” said Vanier head coach Ryan Gottselig. “And from a coaching perspective, it was a steep learning curve, too, in terms of schemes and understanding the best spot to put guys. But it was absolutely a big success for our program. Just getting our footing and building a good competitive team with good games every week was huge and it was definitely a great first year.”
The semifinal saw Shaunavon take a two-score lead into the half and while the Vikings were always a big play or two away from making things very interesting, the Shadows seemed to have an answer.
“They’re a good team with the lead, they’re really good running the ball,” Gottselig said. “Both their quarterback and running back are really tough runners and even though we got them in good spots on second-and-long and third-and-long, we just couldn’t get that stop we needed at times. They made a couple of big plays on us early and we got behind a little bit then just couldn’t get our way back into it.”
The Vikings capped their regular season with a 3-2 record, with losses to league powerhouse Lumsden and Shaunavon the only negative marks on their ledger.
The most important factor in their campaign was simply learning the nine-man game and finding the best ways to use their personnel.
“It’s like anything else, you need to get reps to get that sense of time and space for where you need to be on the field, and certainly by the end of the year, kids were getting themselves in good spots,” Gottselig said. “Even offensively, it was nice to get some of the guys who don’t usually touch the ball some plays. Wyatt Behiel is a traditional big ol’ offensive tackle, and we learned throughout the year he has some of the softest hands on the team. So it was great to be able to get guys like that the ball too.”
Now things turn toward next season and taking that next step.
“This is one of the greatest core of Grade 12 kids I’ve had in quite some time, salt-of-the-earth kids that worked hard every day,” Gottselig said. “We’re going to miss them, but at the same time, the young talent is there, too. So with this experience, we’ll be looking to take one more step next season.”
