By Greg Higgins

Crusaders open up camp with high hopes

Aug 23, 2016 | 5:04 PM

As the summer draws to an end and the weather cools down it can only mean one thing; football is back.

The John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders out of North Battelford started fall camp this week. After going all the way to the provincial semi-finals last year, Head Coach Bruce Yockey hopes to keep the train rolling.

“Last year was our most successful year since starting the program six years ago,” Yockey said. “We had a bunch of guys graduate but the guys who are returning have experience. We’ll still have a great running game.”

That run game will be lead by senior Jacob Stynsky. Yockey said he expects Stynsky to play a huge roll for the Crusaders this year. He added a lot of key guys are returning on defense and he felt the team is solid in all positions. Yockey admitted they are thin past the starting lineup.

“If we suffer a couple of injuries at key positions we could be in a bit of trouble,” Yockey said. “We could be looking at playing a lot of guys on offense and defense. We are hoping we can get through unscathed but I’m definitely looking forward to the season.”

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Yockey doesn’t expect all of his players to attend the fall camp before school starts. He will be running four practices this week and three next week before their exhibition game Friday, Sept. 2, against Unity. Yockey said the cut off to make the team is after their first regular season game Friday, Sept. 9, also against Unity.

The Crusaders will play in the 9-Man Conference which means they only play with nine players aside instead of the traditional 12. According to Yockey there are three offensive linemen ineligible to catch the ball and everyone else is fair game. The length of the field is the same as a 12-man field but the width is 10 yards shorter.

Greg Higgins is battlefordsNOW’s city municipal affairs and health reporter. He can be reached at ghiggins@jpbg.ca or tweet him @realgreghiggins.