The Kindersley Kobras and Unity Warriors faced off in the pre-season and regular season this year, all while knowing they would be in this spot come playoff time. It was a 37-34 score for Unity in the exhibition, but a Kobras team that turned the corner a few short weeks later would play an impressive game and beat Unity during the regular season 52-36.
The Kobras and Warriors knew this game was coming thanks to their Conference 7 labels, being the only 2A schools in the grouping of Kerrobert, Macklin, and Eatonia. Kindersley coach Myron Beswitherick explained the “divisional final” that teams were presented with this year, a result of trying to localize the leagues.
“That was going to happen regardless,” shared Beswitherick talking about the match-up against Unity, and he helped explain the current playoff situations around the region, “(Conference 6) has four 2A teams, so what the SHSAA is doing is they get to send two teams into the provincial bracket. They are the only division that has four, so to make it fair every other division is only sending one because they only have two or three 2A teams. They have four teams, so they will have to playoff this weekend to see who makes it into the provincial run.”
The change up in league format this year has been talked about and is now starting to show its benefits, but it is now seeming that another problem within the system is going to have to be solved locally as well.
“This game could be played on a different day, but it just comes down to refs,” said the coach about why the playoff game isn’t set for the customary Saturday.
Often times locally sourced refs work the first round of games that aren’t SHSAA official, but that might need to be something that is implemented throughout the playoffs according to Beswitherick. Two sets of head officials retired coming into the season, so accommodating refs has been a struggle.
“Once you get to provincials there is usually a couple of closer refs, and then a few that come from further away. You try to make it so it’s not all hometown refs, but it does happen just because of availability sometimes,” said Beswitherick talking about the current situation, “Probably this year you will see a little bit more local guys doing it, just because of travel, COVID, the whole nine yards.”
Beswitherick is an official himself for hockey so he knows what it’s like to be on the other side, a theme that presented itself in one of the Kobras signature wins near the end of the season.
Before coming to Kindersley Beswitherick was heavily involved with the Kerrobert Rebels football program, and managed to split the season series against his old coaching partner with an exciting win under the lights back on October 8th.
“It’s always enjoyable, we’re good friends and it’s always enjoyable playing against each other and its nice to get the win,” beamed Beswitherick, who has heard similar good things from parents about the recent primetime match-up in Kerrobert, “It was fun, it was a good game and a good atmosphere. Kerrobert did a great job in that way. I still get comments from parents around here saying it was movie like almost... It was good.”
The game wasn’t just enjoyable for the fans in attendance, it was a key point in the season for the kids on the field. Kerrobert won a defensive battle 17-14 their next week out in a good battle for Unity to enter playoffs with, but for the Kobras, the game must have flipped a switch for their offense as they put up 76 points against Eatonia in their final game of the season.
“It was a totally different type of game than the Kerrobert game, so it was a nice boost for the kids morale as we head into the playoff run now.”
Coach Beswitherick believes the offense knows what they need to do to be successful, and that on the defensive side of the ball they are figuring things out as well.
“We’re starting to get it figured out that we play downhill. We are much more successful when we are much more aggressive in that sense,” said coach before referencing the long break for his athletes, “All these kids have been almost 2 years from any competition. We have a big group of Grade 11’s, so they were in Grade 9 the last time there was any meaningful football. It’s been a steep learning curve this year for all the kids in high school football, and where we are now is leaps and bounds ahead of where we were to start the season.”
He feels his team is in a spot where they know they have to put their nose down on defense if they want to step up and make some noise in playoffs. If the mentality is there that the defense won’t back down and the offense has to earn every yard, Beswitherick feels his team will be in good shape on that side of the ball.
“As a coach, you want them to play for each other,” said Beswitherick talking about how he compares the team to family.
He doesn’t want his players playing for the fans or the coaches, and the rest of coaching staff works to preach the same message as well. Longtime coach Doug Klassen will always say that football is the greatest team sport for the level of connection it takes. The coaches want the players to set their own destiny when they play between the white lines.
Little things were worked on headed into playoffs, as the Kobras don’t expect to change much of what they do. They want to get better at what they do, and just up their technique and make sure they are ready for the challenges ahead.
“One thing I’ve learned as a coach is to keep things a little more simplistic, so that no matter whats thrown at them they can adjust quickly to it. There’s a few things we haven’t seen a lot of that we will be practicing on just to be ready, and be a little bit better at what we already do.”
SHSAA standings show the Kobras with a 4-1 record on the year to tie Kerrobert in first place, and the Warriors with a 2-2 record as Unity appears to have one less game played.
Kickoff for the game is set for 4:15 pm just outside of KCS, as the rubber match between the two west central teams has a spot in the 6-man high school football provincial bracket hanging in the balance.
(KCS Kobras on Facebook)
Thu, Apr 25, 9:30 AM
