Martensville Royals team captains (left to right) Brody Dyck, Kaden Solomon, Tyson Swystun-Bernes, Brody Nelson, Jackson Heisler and Tristan Scott celebrate their team’s provincial championship win on Saturday November 13 (Gazette photo by Terry Pugh)

The Martensville Royals won the provincial nine-man high school football championship on home turf last Saturday, downing the visiting Delisle Rebels 32-22.

But it wasn’t easy.

The Royals had to overcome a 22-point deficit after the Rebels jumped out to an early lead and held the upper hand through most of the first half. The visitors pulled some rabbits out of the hat with unconventional plays, beginning with a short opening kickoff they recovered for a touchdown drive, that caught the boys in blue off guard.

The tide started to turn with two minutes left in the second quarter when Martensville’s one-man wrecking crew, Brody Nelson, fought off a crowd of tacklers to score his team’s first touchdown. He went on to add four more majors in the second half.

Martensville Royals running back Brody Nelson carries a couple Delisle Rebels tacklers with him as he gains extra yards (Gazette photo by Terry Pugh)

The win capped off a perfect year for the Royals, who went undefeated through the regular season and playoffs.

“I’m so excited and happy for my Grade 12 kids,” said Royals head coach Craig Robertson after the game, as a crowd of parka-clad well-wishers crowded around him to offer congratulations.

“We have so many graduating players, and to have them play every single down of football they possibly could and come out with a win after facing a tough team; that was probably the best thing that I could hope for them.”

It was fitting that their toughest opponent was their  long-time conference rival. The Rebels and Royals met twice during the regular season, with Martensville winning both games by scores of 42-20 on September 24 and 41-30 on October 15.

Delisle Rebels Corbin Ebben tries to evade a tackle by Martensville Royals defenders (Gazette photo by Terry Pugh)

“We knew in order to have a chance in the provincial final, we had to come out swinging and come up with some stuff that the other team had never seen before,” said Rebels head coach Ty Pylypow. “That was part of our game plan, to come out and surprise them with a few things.

“We had the on-side kicks, and  a couple of other fakes in there that we executed quite well to jump out to a big lead in the first half.

“But we also knew it was going to be a physical game, and they kind of just wore us down,” he added. “I give our guys a lot of credit. They gave it everything they had.”

Robertson said his team had to find a way to rally from a deficit; something they hadn’t faced all year.

“We hadn’t seen any of those plays before, so they were successful early on,” said Robertson. “But I just told our guys to stay calm and stick to our game. By half time they wouldn’t have any more surprises, and they’d have to go back to what we were familiar with.

“That’s what happened.”

Both Robertson and Pylypow were new to their head coaching roles this season, stepping into big shoes as Lyle Evanisky of the Royals and Ken Byers of the Rebels had both moved on.

Robertson had served as Martensville’s offensive line coach for the Royals. Pylypow had also been on the sidelines in an assistant coaching role with the Royals before taking over the reins in Delisle.

“We knew exactly the kind of competition we could expect,” said Pylypow. “I’m super proud of our guys. We knew it was going to be a physical battle and they pushed themselves to the absolute limit.”

Robertson said his core group of Grade 12s proved to be phenomenal leaders for the rest of the team.

“I knew I could lean on them,” said Robertson. “We’re fortunate to have a guy like Brody Nelson, who’s able to play both ways. I lost Parker Peterson, one of our key linebackers, right at the start. Brody stepped up and said, ‘I’ve repped this a couple times; I’ll play.’ It worked out well for us.”

Hundreds of spectators lined the west side of Wilson Field, with the Martensville supporters outnumbering the Delisle fans, but not by much.

“It was great to win at home,” said Robertson. “There’ s nothing better.”

“It was almost a home game for us,” said Pylypow. “Our fans travel well, and it wasn’t a long trip to Martensville.”

The Martensville Royals are the 2021 provincial nine-man high school football champions. Martensville Royals 2021 championship team includes (not in order) Michael Shoemaker, Tytan Mueller, Dominick Randall, Latrell Brown, Sutter Danychuk, Jaydyn Okell, Shaidon Yuzik, Parker Peterson, Austyn Evans, Seth Norman, Kaden Solomon, Rex Norman, Noah McGaughey, Chase Lepage, Caleb Leier, Brody Nelson, Colby Bunnah, Cale Robertson, Alexia Wagner, Hayden Sametts, Tristan Scott, Mason Cey, Callan Reid, Chase Hahn, Jackson Heisler, Nevin VanDenBussche, Brody Dyck, Brayden Kennedy, Darrien Rempel, Ethan Schachtel, Keegan Bates-Swain, Toryn Swystun-Bernes, Craig Robertson (head coach), Carter Dyck (coach), Brodey Kliewer (coach), James Mueller (coach), Tyler Munday (coach), Cooper Olson (coach), Cley Sametts (coach), Kaylee Ayotte (trainer), Ashley Cey (trainer), Andi Johnson (trainer), Shelby Shynkaruk (trainer), Teresa Koop-Hunter (manager) (Gazette photo by Terry Pugh)