The Ahtahkakoop Titans have joined the Northern Saskatchewan Football League. (Derek Cornet/larongeNOW Staff)

By Derek Cornet

SMVS Returns

Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation joins Northern Saskatchewan Football League

Apr 11, 2019 | 4:59 PM

Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation is joining the Northern Saskatchewan Football League after coaches decided to re-organize how games will be played.

“When the coaches met for their annual meeting earlier in the winter, we talked about the importance of developing and, as part of that, having good competition,” Northern Lights School Division Superintendent of Education Mark Williment said. “In some cases, we have teams who are just starting out or who are at a lower level of play. They’re really not developing when they are playing other teams who are more advanced and so on.”

As a result of those discussions, it was decided the league would be organized into two conferences with the first tier comprised of more competitive teams with a provincial level of skill, while the second tier includes teams either just beginning, rebuilding or at a lower level of play.

Those in the first conference include Cumberland House, Creighton, Pinehouse Lake and Sandy Bay. Teams in the second tier are Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, Beauval, La Loche and the Lac La Ronge Indian Band’s Senator Myles Venne School, which is returning to the league after a one-year break. Williment noted all coaches accepted the new format and the Ahtahkakoop Titans were invited to join the league.

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“We thought maybe it would be a mutual benefit for them to play for us in our second-tier team and build from where they’re at,” he said. “The good thing about this is we’re still going to have championships for the second-tier teams as if they are in the first tier as well.”

Ahtahkakoop Coach Jean Isbister stated the team is excited to join the league, adding they were previously playing teams from Big River, Rosthern, Shellbrook and other southern communities. He said entering the Northern Football division will give them more experience when it comes to playing teams closer to their level. The Titans were formed only a few years ago and Isbister noted they were losing many of their games because the team was so new.

“We only played three years and before that none of the boys had even stepped on a football field,” he said. “They had never known any of the rules, so it was all brand new to them. They’re getting into it and we’re getting a lot of interest from the young ones.”

The next big event for Northern Football is the upcoming 2019 Saskatchewan Roughriders Northern Football Jamboree. It will be hosted May 10 and 11 at La Ronge’s Churchill Community High School and include appearances by Zach Evans, Ed Gainey, Charleston Hughes, Micah Johnson, Brendon LaBatte and Naaman Roosevelt. The Red Cross will also be in attendance to deliver sessions of wellness and mental health.

“The players at this camp are generally younger who are starting out,” Williment said. “It’s a developmental camp, but we’re more than proud to have the Saskatchewan Roughriders partner with us for the second year in a row.”

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derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno