A change to the number of players that take the field in the Saskatoon Kinsmen Minor Football League’s Pee Wee division is paying dividends for the Battleford Bucks.
The team, which is part of Battlefords Minor Football organization, leads the league with a 5-1 record after picking up a 30-0 win over the Prince Albert River Riders at Beaver Lions Stadium Wednesday night.
“It’s been a nice progression for us really,” said Mike Humenny, who is an assistant coach for the Bucks.
“We had some growing pains in our first season but last year we made it to the semifinals and we’ve been playing really well this year with the 29 guys that we have.”
Previously, the Pee Wee Division had 12 men on the field, but was changed to nine-men this season as part of a directive sent down from Football Canada.
“It hasn’t been a seamless transition for us but we had a really good spring camp with this rule change in the back of our minds,” Humenny said. “We were lucky to have all of the kids there and we were able to work through some things in order to hit the ground running when we got back together in August.
“We’re also fortunate to play the majority of our home games at Crusader Field, which is already set up for the nine-man football games they play at John Paul II.”
The Bucks, who have Paul Fransoo as head coach and also have Steffen Geddes, Darren Russell, Shawn Humenny, Jim Sheppard and Stephen Neufeld on the coaching staff, have been a well-balanced machine so far this year.
They have scored the most points in the league with 146 and their 45 points against is the third least that a team has allowed all season.
“We have a number of guys on the offensive side of the ball that can make plays, whether it’s our quarterback [Josh Fransoo], running backs or our wide receivers,” Humenny said.
“Our defence is led by our linebackers who are able to move well from side to side to track down the opposing players. At this age group, many teams try to attack the outside edge with pitches to the running backs or with slot back screens, so it’s important to try and shut those plays down early.”
The Bucks’ last home game of the regular season will be at Crusader Field on Sunday, Oct. 15 when they will play the Tinkler Raiders at 1 p.m.
