TISDALE — After an unexpected bye week, the Tisdale Middle & Secondary School football team is looking forward to hitting the road.
For health reasons, the Tornados’ first road game of the season – slated to be against Nipawin’s L.P. Miller Comprehensive School – was postponed. The teams will now meet in Nipawin on Oct. 15. In the meantime, the 3-0 TMSS squad will travel to La Ronge Friday to play Churchill Community High School. The team will load the bus at 9 a.m. and hopes to return hopefully by 11 p.m.
“The whole team experience you get on those road trips is kind of just as good as practice,” TMSS head coach Keenan Carrier said. “Becoming more of a family, just being around each other is something special. I’m definitely looking forward to Friday and the memories my team is going to make on the road, for sure.”
The Tornadoes are not taking their hosts lightly. TMSS won 78-0 in Tisdale earlier this season, but Carrier said they know their La Ronge foes will be more prepared this time around.
“They are going to come at us,” he said. “They have home turf. Nobody likes to get beat on their home turf. We definitely expect a more prepared team that will be hungry.”
In preparation for the contest, Carrier said the Tornados are focusing on such defensive aspects as improving coverage and to “play low, play fast, and play to the whistle.” On the other side of the ball, the team is ensuring its run and pass games are ready.
While the bye week was unexpected, the Tornados tried to make the best of it. The team focused on itself. Carrier said he felt the Tornados got better every day at practice. The absence of a Friday contest also gave players an opportunity to rest as well as to focus on schoolwork and other responsibilities. In addition, younger players got some first team reps in practice that will “help us out at the end of the day,” Carrier said.
“We are looking forward to getting that game back on the 15th,” he said.
