The John Paul II Crusaders football team lost the provincial play-in game to Humboldt 42-29 this past weekend. (John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

By Austin Mattes

JPII Football

‘This season was still a success’: Crusaders fall short against Humboldt to end season

Oct 24, 2024 | 12:00 PM

The season came to an end for the John Paul II Crusaders football team this past weekend as they lost the provincial play-in game to Humboldt, 42-29.

Despite the loss, Crusaders coach Paul Fransoo said that the team played good and it just came down to a few plays near the end of the game.

“We played a full four quarter football game as we’ve seen all year and our plan and strategy were very effective as far as what we were going to do…In the end, it was the two significant plays that we just couldn’t put a stop to,” he said.

“From a coaching perspective, we had the right strategy going into that game but ultimately just a couple of very, very small things that that we’ve tried to work on throughout the year. But our guys went in with a with a stronger mindset and played hard and we are proud of that.”

The Crusaders finished off the regular season with a 3-3 record, getting two wins over Kindersley and one earlier on in the season against Humboldt.

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This was one of the most successful seasons so far for the program and gives the team high hopes going into the next season.

“Last year we won I think one game, this year we were three and three to end the regular season and you know this last game really could have gone either way. Ultimately, this season was still a success to go .500, this year is a big deal for us and makes us hopeful for next year.”

One of the biggest issues for the team this season was the number of players they had. Often times throughout the season, the team had a lot of players playing both ways, which wore them out near the end of the season.

With such success this season, Fransoo hopes that this will encourage other athletes and students to consider joining the team for next season.

“When we look at it from a team perspective, what we’d really like is more players to come out and learn and be part of the team. It would certainly be beneficial and given what we’ve done this year, looking at the season, how we progressed, hopefully athletes in the school are going to see that and they’ll want to come and lend their talents and abilities to come play.”

The team will be hosting a spring camp in either May or June and want to see grade eight, nine and new players come out so they can learn about the game and see what it’s all about. The official date of the camp is still undetermined.

The team will also be having their award banquet and season wind up in the coming weeks.

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Austin.mattes@pattisonmedia.com

On X: @AustinMattes