After six years of silence, the football field at Lions Park in Meadow Lake has come roaring back to life. For the first time since disbanding after the 2019 season, the Carpenter High School Spartans football team returned to Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA) action Friday (Sept. 5) with a game against the Kindersley Kobras. And, although the result wasn’t what the Spartans were hoping for, everyone involved – whether it be players, coaches and fans alike – are just happy to have football back.
“The final score ended up being 49-6 for Kindersley,” recalled Spartans head coach Coleton Ethier. “Our kids came out a little bit nervous, as this was the first time any of them had played a high school football game. It made sense they were a little bit shell shocked in the beginning, but they got better as the game went on. They started to settle in, and they gave us a great effort 100 per cent of the time, and that’s all we could ask for.” Toward the end of the game during the last drive for Kindersley, the Spartans’ defence forced a turnover after recovering a fumble and earned a touchdown courtesy of David Sawi. “We ended on a very positive note, which was great,” Ethier added. Ethier also went on to state how wonderful it was to see the Spartans back on the field after such a long hiatus. “It was great to see football back – this is huge for the community, and we had a really huge community turnout for our first game,” he said. “There were about 150 people out, and the fans stuck it out right to the end. They cheered on every positive, which was amazing to see. We appreciate the community’s support.”
Next up, the Spartans are on the road for a game against John Paul II Collegiate today (Sept. 11) in North Battleford. “That’s a matchup we are very excited about as well,” Ethier said. “The big thing we’re looking forward to is seeing continued development in the kids. We’ve told them right from the beginning we want to see them continue to get better every day. We’ve watched film on JPII as well, which is a luxury we didn’t have going into our game against Kindersley. We have a really good game plan going in, but every team in our conference is a good team, so JPII will come ready as well.” The Spartans’ next home game is Sept. 26 against Delisle.