WWCFL season will be a sprint in 2017
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| Denise Kolosky (#44) and her Valkyries teammates hit a Storm tailback. |
The Saskatoon Valkyries are looking like themselves out of
the gate, which will be key in what
will be a lightning fast 2017 season.
On Saturday at
Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the Valkyries dumped the Edmonton Storm 56-6 in
a pre-season tilt. The contest also served as a rematch from last year’s
Western Women’s Canadian Football League title game, which the Valkyries won
81-6 in Lethbridge.
Normally, the
Western Women’s Canadian Football League schedule is spread a little over two
months. With the International Federation of American Football Women’s World
Championship running from June 24 to 30 in Langley, B.C., there is a push to
get the WWCFL campaign concluded a touch faster in comparison to past years.
The Valkyries will go from their pre-season game right into
a four-game regular season contests. The playoffs have been shortened as well.
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| Kelsey Murphy returns a punt for the Valkyries. |
The top two clubs in the four-team Prairie Conference that
the Valkyries are part of will advance to a conference championship game to be
held on June 3 or 4. In past years, all four teams in the Prairie
Conference were automatically placed in playoffs.
The winner of the conference title game will advance to the
league final, which will be held June 10 in Saskatoon against the first place
club from the three-team Western Conference. If the Valkyries return to the
league final for sixth time in seven years, they will do so playing seven games
on seven consecutive weekends including the pre-season, regular season and
post-season.
The 2017 schedule doesn’t contain a single bye week for the
Valkyries.
In noting how Saskatoon’s schedule plays out, it might have
been even that more impressive the Valkyries utilized pretty much everyone on
their 53-player active roster in Saturday’s romp of the Storm. Defensively, the
Valkyries were impressive holding the Storm to 226 yards of offence.
Most of Edmonton’s yards came from star running back Brenna
Bouchard, who carried the ball 18 times for 140 yards and scored her team’s
lone major in the first half.
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| Kendal Matheson (#25) zips downfield for the Valkyries. |
Valkyries veteran star linebacker Beth Thomson proved she
can still be one of the WWCFL’s most dominant defensive players making four
solo tackles, knocking down a pass and registering a sack off an edge blitz on
Storm quarterback Aria McGowan. Linebacker Denise Kolosky made three solo
tackles and recovered a fumble, while standout safety Shaylyn de Jong came up
with an interception.
Offensively, the Valkyries were dominant on the ground. They
utilized seven different ball carriers who combined for 308 yards. They limited
Julene Friesen, who is their all-purpose do everything tailback, to six
carries, but she still piled up 99 yards and scored three touchdowns.
Sophomore running back Kendal Matheson ran the ball seven
times for 90 yards and scored two majors. Both her scoring runs were pretty
impressive.
On her first major late in the fourth quarter, Matheson
ripped out of a number of tackle attempts by Storm players and sprinted home
for a 50-yard touchdown run. Her second score was a three-yard short yardage
carry, where she twisted and turned through the Storm defensive line to reach the
end zone.
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| Beth Thomson (#2) sacks the quarterback for the Valkyries. |
Rookie running back Sarah Wright scored her first rushing
major for the Valkyries running the ball four times for 49 yards.
Only the passing game seemed to be a bit clunky for the
Valkyries due to the fact they have a number of new receivers looking to build
some chemistry with sophomore quarterback Alex Eyolfson and rookie signal
caller Cori Thorstad. That part of the game traditionally seems to smooth
itself out as the campaign moves long.
Eyolfson did hit sophomore receiver Alyssa Wiebe for a
touchdown toss in the first half. Veteran pass catcher Carly Dyck also showed
more explosion and power in her route running than she had in past years. She
had an impressive 28-yard catch and run touchdown, where she broke out of a
couple of tackles, called back due to an illegal block penalty.
In the kicking game, Dyck made all seven of her converts,
hit field goals from 32 and 28 yards out and had a single from a missed field
goal attempt from 39 yards out.
The biggest hurdle the Valkyries will have to overcome
offensively is the absence of star receiver Marci (Kiselyk) Halseth, who will
miss the entire season after injuring her Achilles tendon leading up to the
pre-season game with the Storm.
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| Carly Dyck nails a field goal for the Valkyries. |
The coaching staff has been shuffled from last season. Pat
Berry moved from defensive coordinator to head coach, while former head coach
Jeff Yausie shuffled into the role of defensive coordinator.
Jordan Walls, who was the quarterbacks coach last season,
assumed the role of offensive coordinator from Chad Palmer, who has departed
from the team. Walls is also the big favourite to take over the role as starting
quarterback for the defending Canadian Junior Football League Saskatoon
Hilltops, when their campaign starts in August.
Chris Hengen-Braun returns as the Valkyries special teams
and offensive line coach.
The Valkyries quest to repeat as WWCFL’s champs begins in
earnest this coming Sunday, May 7, when they host the Winnipeg Wolfpack at 1
p.m. at SMF Field. They host their archrivals the Regina Riot on Saturday, May
13 at 7 p.m. at SMF Field. The two teams face each in Regina on May 21.
Saskatoon closes its regular season schedule on May 28, when
they travel to Winnipeg to take on the Manitoba Fearless.
If the Valkyries progress like they have in past seasons, it
would be no surprise to see them playing in the WWCFL title game on home turf
on June 10.
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