Beaver Brae Bronco football is finally back for the first time in over a year!
The Broncos will take the field for their home opener on September 24, 2021, against Fort Frances.
Broncos head coach Chris Penner along with his team have been hard at work over the past couple of weeks preparing for their first game of the season.
“They’re vibrating, which is fantastic, the energy is great they had some really good practices last night it’s fantastic. They can’t wait to do it, they are quite happy. They’re ready for this it’s been a long time coming,” said Penner
Penner is very happy with how the team is shaping up this season to try and snag that number 1 overall seed come playoff time.
“I’m optimistic like I am every year. Winning is nice let's face it we all like to win, but what I really enjoy is watching the young people develop, and taking a player that has never played before and teaching them that. We have a great group of kids, and win lose or draw they are a great group of kids to work with,” added Penner
In preparation for the start of the season, a football exhibition will be held today at the Tom Nabb Outdoor Soccer Complex. Beaver Brae, DHS, and Fort Frances will all be competing against each other in a 40-minute scrimmage type format.
Penner added that his strategy going into this exhibition is the same as he would any other season.
“We’re easing into things getting kids comfortable with the equipment, and positions, and then getting into contact. It’s just like any other season. It’s really not that different at all. We’re very fortunate though that a lot of our younger players are products of our junior varsity team from 2019. They come in with more experience and that is really a bonus,” says Penner
The Broncos take to the field for their first exhibition game today at 1:00 p.m. against Fort Frances. Then DHS will go against FF at 1:50 p.m., and to conclude the event Beaver Brae will take on DHS at 2:40 p.m.
This season is going to mean more to Penner and his team due to COVID-19 canceling fall sports last August.
“This is something they like to do. Sometimes you have to go away from it for someone like myself to realize how much you do love it. They did miss out, and they know what they missed out on, and we are making sure that we do everything we can do to make sure that we have this season,” concluded Penner
This season will look a little different as Beaver Brae, DHS, and Fort Frances opted not to play in the Winnipeg High School Football League. Each team will play each other twice with the first game being on September 17, 2021, where Dryden High School visits Fort Frances.
The semi-finals will take place on October 29, 2021, against the 2nd and 3rd place teams, the winner of that game will take on the first-place team on November 5, 2021.