By Darren
Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex
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| A Saints receiver heads downfield after a catch on Sept. 17, 2021. |
Kramchynsky plays defensive end for the Bishop James Mahoney
Saints High School Saints Football team, and under the “Friday Night Lights” on
September 17, 2021, he helped his squad slug out a 23-7 victory over the Evan
Hardy Collegiate Souls in the Saints first regular game of the campaign. The
Saints win closed out Week 1 of the regular season schedule for the Saskatoon
Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate (SSSAD).
A large group of students from Bishop James Mahoney came to
SMF Field to cheer on the Saints. After the final seconds ticked away in the
win over the Souls, the Bishop James Mahoney students rushed over to the
field’s entrance in the south end zone to great the Saints players as they came
off the field.
Kramchynsky can still see himself going into that massive
sea of students giving high-fives and hugs to a huge amount of cheers. It was a
celebration and a moment he wished could have gone on for an endless amount of
time.
“That was a great feeling, because the whole stands were
filled with a bunch of students from our school,” said Kramchynsky, who is now
in his Grade 12 season with the Saints. “When we all came off (the field), they
all started cheering.
“It was just super fun to see like the support from our
people who don’t come and play football. It was a fun experience.”
Brody Bilan, who is a Grade 11 running back with the Saints this year, remembers being pumped up to see the massive number of students from Bishop James Mahoney in the stands for the opening game last season.
“It is motivational for sure,” said Bilan. “You want to prove yourself.
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| Bishop James Mahoney students meet their players on Sept. 17, 2021. |
Like Kramchynsky, Bilan was awestruck to see the Bishop
James Mahoney students waiting for the Saints players to come off the field to
celebrate last year’s opening day win.
“I just remember it being like fun,” said Brody. “Coming off
that win and just everyone being around it, it was just like a great
experience.”
High school football has a long history in Saskatoon dating
back to October 29, 1924, when Nutana Collegiate slipped past Bedford Road
Collegiate 2-1 in the first high school football game played in the city.
Since September 30, 1960, Saskatoon Minor Football Field on
the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds has been the primary home for high
school football in “The Bridge City.” The football stadium was first known as
the Holiday Park Bowl and then took on the Gordie Howe Bowl name for most of
its history.
It was rechristened as Saskatoon Minor Football Field in
2014 when a new field turf was installed that replaced the grass field. The old
grass field often deteriorated into a mud pit late in the season.
Still, the players that came to the football park since 1960 have fond and enduring memories of the games they took part in at SMF Field. That includes Brody Bilan’s father, Steve Bilan.
In the current day, Steve is the quarterbacks coach for the Saints, but from 1993 to 1995, he was the star quarterback for the E.D. Feehan Catholic High School Trojans. After graduating from E.D. Feehan, Steve continued to play at SMF Field throwing passes for the CJFL’s storied Saskatoon Hilltops from 1996 to 2000.
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| Students pack the SMF Field stands during “Welcome Week.” |
“That was back before the turf was put in. The dirt would
rise, because there would be so many games earlier in the day. You could just
see that haze kind of flowed up.
“It was just kind of a cool mystique kind of presence to
it.”
Playing with the Trojans, Steve enjoyed taking part in games
against Mount Royal Collegiate and Bedford Road Collegiate as part of the
Rusholme Rivalry. The rivalry stems from the fact a border of each school
connects to Rusholme road.
While it was only about a 10-minute bus trip from E.D.
Feehan to SMF Field, Steve remembers the excitement growing on the bus trips as
the team neared the stadium.
“You knew you had just kind of a quick trip,” said Steve. “You really got the anticipation going.
“As you are driving down the street, you would see like classmates waving to the bus or just like people down the street waving to you. They knew a game was on. It was just good.
“I remember even just pulling up to the field in high
school, and you could hear the announcer talking. You kind of felt like a
pretty big deal walking on to a high school field. It was cool.”
Steve said a full circle moment was helping coach his son and seeing his son play high school football on the same field he did.
“It is pretty special, and I think that is just the
tradition of football in Saskatchewan like Saskatoon and Saskatchewan in
general,” said Bilan. “It is always just about passing the torch.
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| A Centennial Collegiate running back jets upfield in 2021. |
“It is the same kind of torch that gets passed. I think of
even just former players that coached me whether it was high school or Hilltops
or (University of Saskatchewan) Huskies players that coached me it just
continues to cycle.”
Jud Heilman, who is a consultant for SSSAD, said
the excitement and anticipation to get out to SMF Field at the start of every
high school football season is pretty high.
“High school football is always the first one on the menu
for SSSAD high school athletics,” said Heilman. “It kind of sets the tone for
the whole year.
“It is just a great way for kids to kind of get back from
summer vacation and get back into the swing of things. Whether you are on the
team or cheering the team on, it has just built that school spirit. It carries
our whole sporting year, our calendar year right from high school football all
the way through to basketball and track and field.”
The 2022 high school season has gotten underway with
exhibition games played on September 1, 8 and 9. The first slate of regular
season games is set for September 15 and 16.
Heilman said the SSSAD high school league traditionally host
what are known as “Welcome Week” games during the first week of regular season
play. During “Welcome Week,” each school brings out their entire Grade 9 class.
Those Grade 9 students are usually all dressed up in school colours, and those
“Welcome Week” games are usually their first experience with high school
athletics as part of their school.
From that start, Heilman said many memories are made.
Heilman said that players who have suited up for high school football games at
SMF Field since it originally opened in September of 1960 have a warm spot for
memories of those times.
As a result of those memories being created, Heilman said
playing high school football at SMF Field is one of Saskatoon’s great sporting
traditions.
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| Holy Cross High School takes on Bethlehem Catholic High School in 2021. |
“Those friendships last a lifetime. It is always something
that you are maybe 10 or 15 years away from an old classmate. You see someone
on the street, and you can always reminisce about high school sport and getting
to the bowl to play football games – the SMF Field.
“It is just fantastic and life building.”
The SSSHA’s full schedule of regular season high school football games can be found at sssad.net/schedule/.
