When the Eagles won their first provincial title in 2007, coach Chris Michel had his very young son Ben Michel on the field with him. Coach Michel was able to celebrate the second provincial championship with Ben as one of the running backs and graduating Eagles players.
Ben Michel helped to lead the team to victory with 147 rushing yards, including two touchdown runs of 44 and three yards.
“It was a great win. It was a total team game to put up the points we did and shut them out on defense,” said Ben. “We were good on all points of the game and it felt really good to win.”
“It felt good to prove that we have the best team in the province, and the best defense in the province to shut them down like we did,” added Michel. “It is truly hard to believe, since I do not know if (a shutout) ever happened before in the history of provincial football championships. If it has, it is obviously very rare.”
Running back Austin Knupp rushed 13 times for 81 yards and two more scores, from four and two yards. On defence, he chipped in with five tackles and a sack.
“It felt amazing to get that win, I couldn’t even believe that we won the final. It was a team effort overall,” said Knupp. “Our running game was strong, and the special teams had achieved three punt blocks in the game. Our defense was solid to earn that shutout over Balgonie. It felt great to put a big zero on the board for their team.”
Quarterback Ben Manning added a one-yard TD run for Weyburn, which piled up 268 rushing yards.
The Eagles also scored on a 43-yard trick play which saw Manning pass to Conner Kerr, who then passed to Elias West who ran in for the score.
Defensive and offensive lineman Evan Barsness registered seven tackles and had one of Weyburn’s three blocked kicks. Michel and Knupp had the others.
“Our team really came through in the end, especially after we prepared for the game. It felt really good to win and lift up that trophy,” said Barsness.
“We saw some of their film, and the Griffins didn’t play as hard, or hit as hard as we had thought. We came in with our might. We wanted to win more. We came prepared, and practiced in the conditions that we would be playing in,” added Barness.
Before the provincial final, the team spent practice time on the indoor field at the Credit Union Spark Centre and outside in the wind to prepare for the cold conditions that would face them at Leibel Field.
“Those practices were key to our win,” said Barness. “Practicing on the turf really helped, to see if we needed new cleats if they didn’t have any grip. Then practicing outdoors in the cold really prepared us for how cold it actually was during the game.”
Levi Knauss was Greenall’s offensive leader, with 66 yards on 13 carries. Jarrett Smulan had two pass deflections for the previously unbeaten Griffins, champions of the Regina Intercollegiate Football League’s Stewart Conference.
