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Hello one and all,
A week ago Tuesday Glen Suitor had a press conference for a football camp he's putting on during the Vanier Cup celebrations. What a great idea, what a great guy! Anywho, Chris mic'd him up for the press conference, thanks Glen.
Speaking of last week, we interviewed Don McDonald, a longtime director of the Hilltops. He's a walking encyclopedia of information. Getting a chance to look in the rearview mirror (the past) with so many knowledgeable football people has been an honour. We interviewed Don at the Hilltop clubhouse, the renovations they've done look spectacular. They really know how to do things right. If you get a chance to see it, I highly recommend going by to take a peek.
Saturday, October 7th was one of the most miserable football days I can recall in a longtime. Bret Thompson referred to it as a monsoon, I'm sure he wasn't far off. When we got to the Huskie game Saturday afternoon we mic'd up coach Towriss. Tim Micallef, an anchor for 'The Socre' was commentating the game. We asked him for an interview and he said sure. I love hearing people outside of Saskatchewan talk about their perspective on football in Saskatchewan.
Just before kickoff we ran into coach Brian Dobie of the Manitoba Bisons. He was articulate and spoke very highly of the Huskies and football in our province. The game itself was hard to watch, not just because of the weather. Both Chris and I have become hardcore fans of the athletes we're following, so it's difficult watching them lose (so much for balanced journalism).
Last Saturday night I witnessed the 'mudbowl' between the Hilltops and the Thunder. Sarge gave us permission to mic up coach Nepjuk, thanks Jack. This is going to sound odd but I must say it, the game was beautiful to film. I looked at the footage that night and the shots were outstanding. I wish I could use the entire shoot for the documentary.
Talking with Jack Nepjuk, he said it best. He likened it to 'old time football'. Nice quote Jack. This past Friday we saw our first ever 9-man football game (there's been a lot of firsts for us with this project), between Delisle and Rosetown. Talk about atmosphere! The field was surrounded by vehicles, the play by play announcer was terrific and the game was outstanding. These kids are very well coached. We interviewed Andrew Busby at halftime. He was very relaxed and personable. I must back up slightly, before the game I interviewed my good buddy, and coach of the Delisle Rebels, Kenny Byers. He set the scene for us. This was the game to determine home field advantage for the playoffs.
Delisle came out on top 18-7. Coach Barnstable of Rosetown was gracious enough to grant us an interview after the game as did the head coach of Delisle, Judd Heilman. Later that night we filmed the Marion Graham/Aden Bowman tilt at the soccer complex. It's a great field but a little wonky for football with the small end zones. The game felt like a playoff game. We tried to focus a bit on Mark Klaus (he ran for 296 yards and three TD's) as well as Niko Higgs, linebacker for Aden Bowman. They didn't disappoint us. I interviewed Nikko after the game and got Marion Graham's perspective of the game from coach Tim Hamilton.
Saturday morning Chris filmed Duane Dmytryshyn's ten and eleven year old touch football team at Lakeridge School. Duane won a provincial high school championship with Marion Graham, a Vanier Cup with the Huskies and two Grey Cups with the Argos. With all that football knowledge he's coaching ten year olds. I love it, it's so Saskatchewan! Duane told us in an interview that his fondest memories playing football occurred when him and his buddies met in front of their elementary school to play pick up tackle football when he was ten years old (I can relate Duane, I can relate).
Today we were at Griffiths Stadium to watch the Hilltops playing the Edmonton Huskies. It seemed more than a little strange seeing the blue and gold playing somewhere other than Gordie Howe Bowl. Before kickoff we interviewed Huskie head coach, Beau Mirau. He mentioned that his dad played football in Gull Lake with Roger Aldag (go figure). The game was everything it was hyped up to be. Big plays, huge momentum shifts and one team euphoric and the other team crushed. It was hugely disappointing for us personally to see the Hilltops lose 35-27. We've been following the team since February and we've come to admire the team whose motto is "Once a Hilltop, always a Hilltop".
After the game Shane Dueck was gracious granting us an interview, as was coach Jeff Yausie and Hilltop president Cliff David. We owe a big, big thank you to the Hilltops organization for their unequivocal support of our documentary. Any success we have will be due in large part to the their support and encouragement.
We have another busy couple of weeks ahead as we prepare for the high school, university and pro football playoffs. I'll talk to you soon. Take care and keep lovin' the game!
Regards,
Tom Simes
Five Stones Films