Red Deer’s pee wee football teams to battle for Blair Murray Trophy

“We just felt that establishing the Blair Murray trophy for this battle between Red Deer’s two pee wee football teams was a great way to honour him and keep his memory alive,” says Thompson.

Hornets head coach Kyle Liptak says Saturday’s game will be the first and only time the two teams will face each other this season.

“Anytime you can get a Red Deer team versus a Red Deer team, it’s always exciting for the community,” exclaims Liptak. “For a lot of these players, it’s going to be the last time they get to play against each other before they head off to their respective high schools. Then you add that it’s a playoff game, everybody gets a little more excited for a playoff game, so I think that makes it definitely a little bit more of a special game.”

Liptak, who also sits on the Board for Red Deer Minor Football, says their goal this year was to establish more consistency between the two teams starting this year.

“Our goal is to make sure both teams are always in the top four,” states Liptak. “Last year, the Hornets were in the top four and I think the Steelers only had one win and it kind of flip-flops. Our goal is to get both Red Deer teams consistently playing at a high level and with the two teams only losing a combined two games in regular season, I definitely think that goal was accomplished.”

Liptak tips his hat to the coaching staffs on both teams for their success and praises the level of skill shown by the players as well.

“As good as your pee wee teams get, they don’t get that good unless they’ve had good coaching and good experiences at the atom level,” he points out. “So again, the goal is let’s make sure Red Deer and central Alberta have some of the best football in Alberta and starts getting recognized as that. We’re starting to see that with more and more kids once they get up into the high school level, more guys getting looks and playing at U of A and U of C and other universities around the country.”

One other game in the Central Pee Wee Football League playoffs on Saturday has the Strathmore Badgers in Lacombe to play the Explosion at 4 p.m.

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High School playoffs (Friday)

4:30 p.m. – Lindsay Thurber vs. Lacombe

7:00 p.m. – Hunting Hills vs. Notre Dame

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Bantam playoffs (Saturday)

10:00 a.m. – Sylvan Lake at Rocky Mtn. House

10:00 a.m. – Lindsay Thurber at Olds

2:30 p.m. – Hunting Hills at Ponoka

6:30 p.m. – Strathmore at Notre Dame

6:30 p.m. – Drumheller at Lacombe

by Sheldon Spackman

Red Deer’s pee wee football teams to battle for Blair Murray Trophy

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