ESTEVAN - The Estevan Comprehensive School (ECS) Elecs football team is looking forward to a return to the gridiron for the 2021 season.
The South East Cornerstone Public School Division has given the football team the green light to play in the upcoming season, after the COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the 2020 season throughout the province. The team will hold an equipment distribution day on Aug. 19 from 3-5 p.m., and the first practice will be Aug. 23.
They will practice daily for the next two weeks.
ECS will have a preseason game in Weyburn on Sept. 3, and they have a bye in the first week of the season.
“It will be nice, because I’m expecting a lot of new faces,” said ECS football head coach Mark Schott. “So we’ll have a larger window to catch everyone up to speed and work everyone in.”
Their first game will be an evening contest against Weyburn on Sept. 17 at the Dana Quewezance Memorial Field inside Woodlawn Athletic Park at 7 p.m.
As one would expect, there has been a significant amount of turnover from the team that won the South Rural League’s consolation title in 2019. Fifteen players from the 2019 team are eligible to return, but at this stage, Schott’s not sure if all of them will be back.
He is expecting the majority of them will return, and they’re excited to play football again.
“There will be a lot of new faces, so we’re really eager to get going and seeing where all the pieces will fit,” said Schott.
Schott would like to have 35-40 players for the upcoming season.
“There’s been a lot of interest, with a lot of players moving up from Estevan Minor Football from the 2020 year and this year. We’re looking forward to having a lot of youth on our team, but at the same time, we know that it’s a big step up to the high school level, so that extra practice window before our first regular season game, we’re hoping to take advantage of that as much as possible.”
The league will once again feature three teams from Moose Jaw, plus teams from Swift Current and Yorkton to go along with Estevan and Weyburn.
Anyone interested in playing can contact Schott via email at mark.schott@secpsd.ca, or show up for the equipment handout or the first practice.
