The Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate Comets football team preparing for a game during their 2018 season. (Facebook/Melfort Comet Football)

By Aaron Schulze

MUCC Comet Football

Expectations higher for Melfort Comets in 2019

Aug 26, 2019 | 2:08 PM

The Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate (MUCC) Comets are halfway through their training camp of the 2019 high school football season.

With 30 players attending – including 12 in their Grade 12 seasons – expectations are higher in 2019 than the previous year where they fell in the Saskatchewan High Schools’ Athletic Association (SHSAA) 3A Nine-Man Provincial Championship quarter-finals 50-8 to the eventual champions Lumsden Devils.

“We knew coming into this year that we’d have a veteran group on offence,” Comets Head Coach David Rogers said. “Our run game looks pretty good already at this portion of the year. The kids are growing; they improved and did some weight work in the offseason.

“Defence was really the strength of our team last year. It had most of our Grade 12’s on it, so they got younger guys again this year and they’re continuing to improve every day. That’s really the mantra of our football program: Every day you step on the football field we want you to be a little bit better.”

Most of the returning Grade 12’s will be on offence, but Rogers expects younger players in the Grade 9 to 10 ranges to suit up for games, especially on the defensive side so they can learn under the veterans.

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Another aspect of the 2018 Comets squad that Rogers hopes to see back is the grit and determination he saw under adversity.

“We overcame some injury problems and youth problems, especially on offence,” he said. “We really anchored ourselves with a strong defence last year and finished with a record of 5-1.”

The Comets’ only loss in the regular season came to Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI). However, the Comets won’t worry about HCI in 2019 with them being moved to a different conference.

Now the Comets will play L.P. Miller in Nipawin, Tisdale Middle and Secondary School, and Churchill Community High School in La Ronge in a six-game regular season schedule, with home and home series against all three teams.

Rogers said he and his players never know what to expect from every other team in the conference, although with them being on the rise and HCI now playing elsewhere, the expectations placed upon them are raised.

“The leadership we see from our older kids – especially our Grade 12’s – are for high expectations and a successful season,” he said. “We play six games against three quality opponents and we’ll have to use those opportunities to improve and get us ready to get into the provincial playoffs.

“We feel if we keep that mantra of working hard, believing in the process, getting better, and focusing on some of the little things, the big things will take care of themselves. Sometimes in sports, coaches and players get caught up in winning. They don’t understand winning doesn’t happen because you want to win. Winning happens when you focus on the process that gets you to winning and you don’t worry about the end result as much.”

The Comets will conclude their training camp on Thursday, Aug. 29 before their home opener on Sept. 13 against the L.P. Miller Bears.

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aaron.schulze@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @SchulzePANow