Crusaders’ Penner aims to make final high school magic

Running back one of Saskatoon’s most exciting players

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Aulain Penner drives downfield in the 2023 SHSAA 6A final.

In recent years and the current day, Aulain Penner is the show stopper at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

Every time the running back from Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School Crusaders gets his hands on the football, the potential for something special to happen is there. When he is handed the ball out of the backfield, he can juke, jive, spin and burst in the mold of Barry Sanders.

When he catches the ball out of the backfield, he can take the reception all the way like Marshall Faulk. On kick off, punt and missed field goal returns, Penner can make crazy happen like Henry “Gizmo” Williams in ducking big guys and high hurdling small guys.

In the spring and summer, he continued to do all those things playing in Saskatoon Minor Football’s North Sask Academy program.

Now, the Grade 12 student, who will turn 17-years-old in early October, is playing out his final season with the Crusaders. He is looking to make the most in creating a last batch of memories with the team.

“It is pretty crazy,” said Penner. “Even though I’ve played two years of senior before this, it goes really fast.

“Once football season is over, it is just like, you know, it is hard. It is always like, ‘Oh. I have next season.’ But this year, this is my last season, so you’ve got to make it count.

“It’s weird realizing that this is my last time ever with these guys playing on this field for Holy Cross.”

Penner started playing organized football in Grade 2 first in SMF’s flag football system due to his cousin’s father being a flag football coach. He had been playing hockey, but football started to take over as the sporting love that resulted in Penner playing in SMF’s various programs.

“I played all of SMF five-a-side flag football,” said Penner. “Then, Grade 6 came around, and I played six-a-side (tackle football).

Aulain Penner (#26) breaks out a tackle attempt by a defender.

“Dave Blackburn, he’s a legendary coach, you know, legendary player. Then, I started playing KFL (Kinsmen Football League) and was pretty good at it. I decided football is for me, and then I started playing, you know, tackle.”

Penner enjoyed playing six-a-side for Blackburn, who was a star receiver for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team from 1990 to 1994. Blackburn helped the Huskies win the Vanier Cup in 1990 and fall in an overtime heartbreaker in the 1994 Vanier Cup. He would be a receivers coach on the Huskies 1996 and 1998 Vanier Cup winners.

On top of having good mentors along the way, Penner’s finds his biggest joys in the game come from simple moments.

“I like scoring touchdowns I’m not going to lie,” said Penner. “I like running fast, and I like scoring touchdowns.

“I like beating other people.”

Penner’s abilities have impressed former CFL player Tom Schnitzler, who joined the Crusaders coaching staff last season as their offensive coordinator. Schnitzler took on the team’s head coach role this season after Scott Hundseth retired from teaching. Schnitzler, who helped the Saskatoon Hilltops win CJFL titles in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017, has enjoyed the short time he has coached Penner.

“It has been obviously a very big help to our team,” said Schnitzler. “He (Penner) is a tremendous athlete and a really good kid too.

“He is a more quiet, softer demeanour guy, but on the field he turns it up and obviously is a special athlete. He is very fast, very strong and explosive. We’re going to lean on him a bit this year for sure.”

Schnitzler said Penner’s most notable strength is his speed.

“He is a sprinter,” said Schnitzler. “He is a provincial level sprinter on our track team.

Aulain Penner has made numerous big plays for the Crusaders.

“Obviously, you see him in the weight room, and he is very strong too. He is twitchy, he cuts really fast, and he keeps his speed coming out of his cuts, which I think that is what gives him a lot of separation and explosiveness.”

Over the years, Penner has worked on becoming a more physical player, and he believes he has improved a lot in that department

“I’ve always been like a faster guy on the field, so I always felt going outside was better,” said Penner, who stands 5-foot-9. “Now, I’ve gotten bigger.

“I’m around 190 pounds now, so I can go in A-gap. I can like put the shoulder down and break out of tackles. That’s probably where I progressed the most.”

Penner said in KFL he was able to rely on his athletic ability to make plays, but at the high school level, he has to play smarter as well as being more physical. The skilled ball carrier said you had to focus more on running plays like the coaches laid out in order to have success.

“Guys are bigger,” said Penner.“Guys are faster.

“They know how to tackle better and cover better. They’re smarter on the field, and they’re just smarter people. You can’t just go outside every time.

“You’ve got to follow your blocks and actually use it.”

Penner believes he has become a better player and person playing for the Crusaders. With the storied history the Crusaders have, he said you get motivated to help carry on the team’s legacy and live up to a standard.

The dynamic player said he focuses on acting right and playing respectfully. He said the Crusaders players have fun, but they make sure to carry themselves with class.

In last season’s Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association’s 6A provincial championship game played at SMF Field on November 11, 2023, Penner learned how to deal with some adversity. Locked in a 10-10 tie with Regina’s Miller Comprehensive Catholic High School Marauders, a handoff between then Crusaders quarterback Elias Flory and Penner was mishandled when Holy Cross was pinned on its one yard-line.

Aulain Penner is playing his final high school football season in 2024.

Penner dived on the loose ball in the end zone and was downed there for a safety with 32.5 seconds remaining in the contest. That safety gave the Marauders a 12-10 victory.

The Holy Cross star is aware of Saskatoon’s provincial football title curse at the 6A level. The last Saskatoon school to win the 6A provincial title was the Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears back in 2009, when the 6A level was known as 4A. The levels of high school football were reclassified in Saskatchewan following the 2018-19 school year.

Holy Cross’s last provincial title win in football came back in 1995. The Crusaders have lost all 10 of their provincial championship game appearances since their last title triumph.

“I really want to win it this year,” said Penner. “Last year was more like I felt bad for the seniors.

“I want to win it this year not as much for me, but for the seniors last year and just for Saskatoon in general. We haven’t won it in like 15 years, especially Holy Cross. You know, I’m not even just doing it for me or this school.

“I’m doing it for like all the Saskatoon schools showing that we can run provincial football down here too.”

Schnitzler said in the situation of the botched handoff you console the players, persevere, move on and remember you win as a team and lose as a team. The sideline boss said the Crusaders coaches were proud of Penner and their players on the team. Looking beyond this season, Schnitzler believes Penner can have a long future in the sport.

“You know what, for him, I think it is how far he wants to take it and commit to it,” said Schnitzler. “I think he is a hard-working kid, hard-working athlete.

“If he keeps working hard, the only thing that can hold him back is himself. I think he is on the right track, and I definitely do see him playing post-secondary football at some point.”

Penner said the offers to play football at the post-secondary level are coming in, but he hasn’t made any commitments on where he will go. He aspires to play at the professional level.

At the moment, he doesn’t want to miss out cherishing his final campaign playing for the Crusaders. Overall, his best memories come from being with his teammates.

Aulain Penner (#26) handles reaching the end zone with grace.

“Definitely, the bus rides to and from games, especially after games,” said Penner. “It was really fun talking with the team in the locker room after a win.

“That has got to be the best time and practices. Practices, they’re hard work, but they’re fun. It is fun being with the guys.”

To see the 2024 schedule for high school football, check out the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletics Directorate site at sssad.net/schedule/.

Saskatoon football pumped flag game in 2028 Olympics

Popularity of sport expected to increase further

By Darren Steinke
Gordie Howe Sports Complex

Two players jet downfield in a Rush high school flag game.

Saskatoon Minor Football has always been cutting edge with its flag football programs, and a welcome development is going to add more luster to the sport.

On October 16, 2023, flag football in both men’s and women’s events was approved by the International Olympic Committee for play in the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, Calif. Flag football will be in the Olympic Games for the first time in 2028 along with squash, while baseball, softball, cricket and lacrosse return after varying absences. Flag football games at the Olympics will be contested in a five-on-five format on a 50-yard field with no linemen in both men’s and women’s action.

Brian Guebert, who is the executive director Saskatoon Minor Football, said the announcement that the flag game was going to be accepted into the Olympics was something his organization was anticipating for a while. He said there was a cool feeling when the official announcement came out.

“For it to be official was something really exciting,” said Guebert. “It was kind of that breath of fresh air going, ‘Alright. It is for real now and they’re moving forward with it in a high-performance capacity.’

“It has really changed the tune of how people are approaching the sport of flag football. A lot of times it was a secondary sport. It was something people did for recreation.

“Now, we’re seeing a lot of our young athletes saying, ‘I want to do this as my primary sport.’ That has been really exciting as a result of the announcement of it being an Olympic sport.”

Over the years, Saskatoon Minor Football has developed a number of flag programs including Lil’Tops 3-on-3 flag football, the NFL 5-on-5 Youth Flag Football League, the Rush Female High School Football Flag league, the Toon Squad competitive flag league and the Toon Squad travel teams. Outside of Saskatoon Minor Football, the Saskatoon Adult Flag Football League operates with men’s and women’s divisions and a number of those players coach in the programs offered by SMF.

Guebert said the inclusion of flag football to the Olympics will have a big positive impact on the elite-level side of the game.

“I just think that we will see some growth in our programing in particularly our high-performance program,” said Guebert. “We’ve been fortunate for the last two years in anticipation of this to give our athletes the best chance to compete.

Reed Thorstad coaches a Toon Squad league flag game.

“We have taken our Toon Squad teams, so our U16 and U19 female and male teams, down to the States the last two winters and compete in some high-performance tournaments down there. I think we will start to see a little more draw towards those programs especially leading up and following the Olympics.”

With that said, Guebert is expecting there will be increased popularity for the overall flag game and in all the flag leagues SMF oversees.

“Overall, our NFL youth flag league, our Rush high school girls flag league and we have a Toon Squad league that plays kind of a little more a high-performance model in the fall for females,” said Guebert. “I think we’ll see those steadily continue to grow.

“We’ve had some fantastic growth in really the last 15 or 20 years here. I think we’ll see those continue to sustain a pretty marked growth curve. I’m excited to see where flag football takes us as a football organization.”

Reed Thorstad, who is best known as a star receiver for the Saskatoon Valkyries women’s tackle football team, has played flag football for some time and coaches in both the tackle and flag side of the sport with SMF. She was excited flag football was accepted into the Olympics and said it is an amazing sport technically and tactically.

Thorstad believes Canada will be a high medal contender at the Olympics. She believes the fact flag football becoming an Olympic sport will add to what has been developed in Saskatoon.

“I think it is amazing what we have going on here in Saskatoon right now,” said Thorstad. “There has been a lot of growth in flag football both in the amount of girls playing flag football but also the level of skill that we’re seeing now.

“There is definitely an interest in it. I think that is going to continue to challenge everyone whether they’ve been playing for a long time or they’re new to the sport. Anyone that is chasing that Olympic dream should just work that much harder, because you know that next generation is going to be working for it too.”

Over the past two winters, Thorstad as a coach has taken an SMF female travel team to a tournament at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida. She felt those experiences were eye opening for her players showing that they could play against the best players in their age group in the world.

As for herself, Thorstad will soon turn 28-years-old, so she isn’t sure where she would stand for potentially playing in the 2028 Olympics. She did say it is possible that players she coached could be playing in those games.

A quarterback, right, makes a pass in an NFL Youth flag game.

“Right now, I’m focused on our tackle season,” said Thorstad. “I’m still playing flag, and I love the sport.

“I think it would be an amazing opportunity to even have the chance to try and do that. I know that it is going to be tough competition in Canada, because we have some excellent flag football players and flag football teams. We will see what happens, but I think we’ll have some representation from Saskatchewan in some capacity.”

Cam Skinner, who is a defensive back for the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team and is flag player too, believes having flag football at the Olympics is going to help the exposure for the sport of football overall.

“It is big for the sport for sure,” said Skinner. “You see just the flag numbers that have been rising.

“As a football player, it is cool to see more people just playing. Personally and just with the guys I’ve played with, we’re just excited for the potential to see something you’ve been playing on TV and in the Olympics and then have maybe the chance to go.”

Skinner, who is 24-years-old, is entering his fifth and final season of eligibility with the Huskies. He still has hopes of playing the tackle game professionally in the CFL, but he the added the opportunity of having the flag game as part of the Olympics is another chance to play the sport at a high level in 2028.

“The mindset is cool,” said Skinner. “The potential that would be my peak years.

“You always wonder now that it is an Olympic sport who is going to be available and excited to go. You look at the caliber of athletes we have in Canada. There are guys going to the NFL that might be vying for that spot kind of when that time comes around.

“As a guy that has played high level football in Canada and played a bunch of flag, it is an exciting opportunity just to even have that consideration out there. It will be interesting to see when 2028 comes around.”

Overall, Guebert said flag football has been important to SMF for some time, and have flag football in the Olympics gives that version of the sport an extra boost. He said it is a great entry point for the game because players need to bring cleats, and they are good to go.

“It is a low barrier of entry and then from a fundamental perspective it teaches fundamental skills that are transferable to high-performance flag but also transferable to tackle football,” said Guebert. “I’ll tell any of our parents that it is way harder to take a couple of flags off somebodies’ hips than it is to tackle them.

A Falcons runner rips downfield in an NFL Youth flag game.

“Flag teaches you to be in that good position to wrap up and make a tackle. It teaches you route running. It teaches you ball protection and ball catching and carrying.

“It teaches you coverage skills. It teaches you rushing skills. It teaches you pursuit angles. It is all really, really good without having any contact involved.”

For more information on the flag and other programs offered by Saskatoon Minor Football, feel free to check out their website at saskatoonminorfootball.com.