The John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders head to Humboldt this Thursday, Oct. 10 for their final game of the regular season. (John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

JPII Football

Crusaders take on Humboldt for final game of the regular season

Oct 8, 2024 | 3:21 PM

The John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders football team has high hopes and a good mindset for playoffs after a big 53-8 win over Kindersley last week.

“Ultimately the game against Kindersley was a bit of redemption… Kindersley is no slouch right now. They have a big group of kids, decent size with athleticism and they’re running plays and putting points on board in every game. So, we showed up against them for sure and played well and now we are trying to have the same mindset here going into the next few games and playoffs,” said Paul Fransoo, Coach for the JPII Football Team.

The Crusaders are currently 3-2 on the season after the win over Kindersley and now sit second overall in their league.

Fransoo said it has been dedication and consistency that has equaled success for the team.

“When it comes self-discipline and team discipline, hard work and what practices should look like, it’s consistency, consistency of players and consistency of coaching that made us successful. The players are understanding what the coaches are trying to teach and using it in the games…Once you get that rhythm, especially with your teammates and you see the translation between practice and games, it makes a huge difference.”

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This Thursday, the Crusaders play their final regular season game in Humboldt against Humboldt, who is currently in third place behind JPII with a 2-3 record and lost earlier on in the season to the Crusaders 38-33.

This will be the biggest game for the team so far this season as depending on the result, it will decide if the Crusaders get home field advantage when they play in the conference playoff on Oct.19, which will most likely be against Humboldt.

“Humboldt is a tough place to play and there is a very strong crowd presence. Ultimately, we must be mentally prepared to play. We know physically we can do it; we’ve done it already and we just need to be in the right mindset,” Fransoo said.

If they win this week, the Crusaders will get home field advantage on Oct. 19 and the winner of that game will advance to the provincial playoff bracket.

Whichever team advances will take on the champion of Conference 2, which is currently a toss-up between Lumsden and Shaunavon, who are both 4-0 and play each other this week for their final game.

The JPII Crusaders football team hasn’t been in the provincial playoff bracket since 2018.

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Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes