It was no contest: football has been the top sports story this past week. Fans throughout the Pacific Northwest had plenty to cheer about thanks to the Seattle Seahawks’ Super Bowl win last Sunday.
What was surprising was that the game itself was also no contest. With most experts predicting a close battle, Seattle’s 43-8 trouncing of the Denver Broncos came as a shock. Coach Pete Carroll and his youthful Seahawks were full value for the win and fans are already optimistic about next year.
While on the subject of football, let’s shift to a younger age group and catch up on results from this past season of bantam (born 2000-01) boys’ touch football in local elementary schools. The popular school league was coordinated once again this season by Doug English and was divided into two separate divisions based on the size of the schools participating.
In the division for teams from schools with a population of over 250 students, the playoff final saw Rock City Elementary emerge as district champions, thanks to a 56-28 win over Rutherford. The win capped an undefeated season for the Rock City boys, who were coached by Mike Ireland. Representing their school on the championship squad were players Cody MacArthur, Cole Arsenault, Theo Christianson, Dakota Cullum, Cameron Holman, Nate Seaman, Ryan Waatainen, Tristin Ehrismann, Drew Johnson, Peter Kang and Nolan Oster.
For the district runners-up from Rutherford, coach David Cooper sends word that players on the team included Owen Bray, Dylan Brock, Devon Evensen, Christien Harris, Ethan Jones, Steve Kim, Eoin Murphy and Erik Skjelstad.
Third place in the boys’ football playoffs for large schools went to the Hammond Bay entry coached by Thor Fridricksson, Garrett Watchorn and Steve Dunn.
A separate set of playoffs was held for football teams from smaller schools with a smaller population base. Those games saw the boys from Frank J. Ney Elementary claim top honours. On the winning team were players Ryan Paproski, Caleb Kotai, Parker Davie, Evan Rumley, Carter Ekland, Emmitt Smith, Carter Smith, Owen Harver, Logan Gilks, Nathan Olson, William Fotiou, Tommy Christian, Fisher Zawasky and Henry Waatainen. Coaching the boys was Mike Drummond, assisted by Stacey Milne and staff sponsor Susann Young.
The second-place pennant went to coach Gregg Halfyard and his crew of Fairview players Clayton Hennessy, Derek Houghton, Anthony Comas, Balrajan Minhas, Clyde Kamiya, Mitch Young, Hayden Norberg, Ezra Hutzler, Spencer Dunn and Khang Huyhn.
Davis Road Elementary finished third among smaller schools in the district. On the field for Davis Road were Aiden Kirkham, Hunter Livingston, Cody Shepheard, Isaac Liek, Joseph Coyne, Kieren Morneau, Ethan Anderson, Darcy Dawe, Davin Peterson and Oscar Hanke. Coach for the team was Janelle Mould.
Whatever your sport, a reminder in closing to play your hardest, play fair and show good sportsmanship.
Ian Thorpe writes about sports Thursdays.