The Estevan Coldwell Banker Choice Real Estate U12 Chargers’ reign atop the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League is sadly over, after losing 28-26 in extra time in the league final.
The kids on that team have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of. Yes, it hurts to lose the final, and it hurts even more when you lose in such a close, hard-fought contest. But the kids should be proud of how they played and the strides they made this season.
For those who will continue playing football next year, they’ll hopefully take what they learned throughout this season and apply it.
Also, kudos to the Moose Jaw Lions for winning the championship. They were down 26-7 at half-time. Their defence stepped up and shut out the powerful Chargers’ offence in the second half.
But you do have to wonder about the format used to decide the champion.
The teams played a couple rounds of overtime. The game was still tied. So they used two-point convert attempts to decide the winner.
Huh?
You start practising in the summer, play hard for six weeks in the regular season, have a tough battle in the semifinal, an even tougher battle in the final, go through overtime, and then decide a champion by taking turns lining up a few yards away from the end zone.
I’m not a fan of that.
In a league final, you should play until there’s a winner. Regardless of the sport. No shootouts in hockey. No starting the runner at second base in baseball.
If you want to have gimmick finishes in the regular season, that’s one thing. But once the playoffs begin and the season is on the line, the way you decide a champion should mirror regulation game play as much as possible.
If it means you have to play for an extra hour or two to decide your winner, well, that’s what happens. Draw up your schedule accordingly.
Football is a sport in which extra time has been a challenge. Leagues much higher than the Kinsmen Moose Jaw Minor Football League have wrestled with how to determine a winner when regulation time just isn’t enough.
The NFL has certainly had lots of problems over the years with its extra time, but that’s largely because of their baffling infatuation with sudden-death overtime.
The CFL’s overtime format is okay for the regular season, but it’s not one that should be used in the playoffs.
This is not to take away from the Lions’ title. They earned it. If you can shut out that Chargers’ offence in the second half and overtime with your season on the line, and rally from a deficit, you deserve to be the champions.
If Estevan won the league title, I’d be upset over the format, too. (Although I’d spend a little less time harping about it).
The Chargers have been the success story for local football for several years now. In the past six legitimate seasons (2020 doesn’t count), the Chargers have won a league title, finished second twice and finished third once. Their championship last season was the first for Penta Completions Estevan Minor Football.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the U14 team does next year. After all, the players who were on the U12 team last year that won a championship will be back together at the U14 level. Past performance is sometimes the best indicator of future success. We’re all hoping that the kids who enjoyed so much success at the U12 level in 2021 can turn the trick when they hit the U14 age group.
And if they succeed at the U14 level, then that will bode well for when they hit the Estevan Comprehensive School’s football team.
This year’s Chargers team also had some significant contributions from its first-year players.
It hasn’t always been easy for football in Estevan since the sport returned to the minor level in 2008 and the high school level in 2009. There have been a lot of losses. Many of them were lopsided.
Youth sports isn’t all about winning and losing. It’s about having fun, making friends and finding a love for the game. But it’s a lot easier to have fun when you win rather than when you lose by 42 points.
It’s been a lot of fun following the success of the Chargers the past few seasons. They have something good here.
Hopefully, the next time they win a title, it won’t require the teams trading two-point convert attempts.
