By Football Alberta

Oct. 29, 2022

Rocky Mountain House Rebels to face Wetaskiwin in 9-a-side league championship

Oct 25, 2022 | 4:01 PM

The COVID disruption of 2020-21 claimed more than a few victims in the world of sport.

The loss of some teams and a shortage of officials in all sports were well documented. In football, the same challenges occurred but thanks to some innovative adaptations, the high school scene in Alberta did not lose any programs coming out of the pandemic.

One of the innovative adaptations was running smaller roster competitions for traditional teams who were struggling to get their numbers back up. The 6-a-side option has been in place for over a decade, but for larger schools a more practical adaptation of 9-a-side was adopted for some tradition laden schools from Central Alberta and the Mighty Peace Region.

This week will feature the 9-a-side League Championship game between the host Rocky Mountain House Rebels and the Wetaskiwin Sabres (11am October 29 at Curtis Field in Rocky Mountain House).

These two programs have a very long tradition of high competition over the decades. Rocky finished first with an undefeated season record and beat Camrose 40-14 in the semi-final.

SEPTEMBER 21

Girls in Aviation Day encourages Red Deer youth to soar

37m ago

SEPT. 21 AT RDP

International Day of Peace to foster unity and conversation in Red Deer

53m ago

LAST SEEN SEPTEMBER 11

Missing: Troy Garrlock, 39, of Red Deer

3h ago

Camrose advanced to the semi-finals with a win over Ponoka in the play-in game on October 14. Wetaskwin, road warriors who will accumulate over 3,000 kilometres of travel for their games this year, finished third in the league and won 26-13 at Peace River in the other semi-final game.

9-a-side was the format decided upon by five teams in our province this year. These teams came together to form a five team league to make sure that high school football remained viable in their communities. While not officially recognized by ASAA for provincial play, the league is felt to be another way to keep the great game of football going for youth in the province.

Football Alberta recognizes and thanks the coaches and volunteers of these programs for keeping the game alive in their schools and communities.