Record number of girls in KMFL

The Kinsmen Minor Football League had reason to celebrate.

The KMFL capped off its strong return to the gridiron after a twoyear absence with an awards night at Thomas A Stewart Secondary School on Nov. 16.

The league fielded 135 players and a record number of girls this season after almost folding the previous year because of a lack of players coming out of the lost 2020 season, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It took a lot of work from a reorganized KMFL executive to get the league back up and running and pointed toward a positive future. Some of the individuals involved were recognized, including a special award renamed after a 42-year volunteer.

The junior champion Redblacks and the senior champion Ticats were presented with their championship plaques and many individual awards were given out in both the junior and senior divisions.

“It was great to be able to bring these kids back up on stage again and honour our champions and our individual award winners. It’s been too long and we were really looking forward to this event,” KMFL president Bryan Junkin stated.

The KMFL honoured longtime board member and head coach John Welsh for his 42 years of service by renaming the volunteer of the year award the John Welsh Volunteer of the Year Award.

That award was then presented to Taya Heigh for her contributions during 2021 and to Amy Hatton for her contributions in 2022.

Welsh has coached almost from the league’s inception and he’s served as president on several occasions.

“The board met shortly after our AGM in February and decided it was time to honour John and cement his legacy within the KMFL, 42 years of service and he has run our summer camp for 33 years,” Junkin said. “This was long overdue.”

Junkin was surprised with a gift from the league to thank him for his efforts in re-establishing the KMFL after a two-year hiatus.

“We couldn’t have imagined the season that we were going to have, after missing two years. It took a lot of people to get to this, not just me. Football is Family,” Junkin said. “We are going to take a well-deserved break and start planning for 2023. We are only going to grow from here.”

The following are the Kinsmen Minor Football League Individual Award winners.

■ Junior Rookie Of The Year — Roughriders No. 4 Landyn Scardetta.

■ Senior Rookie Of The Year — Roughriders No. 55 Gavin Wildman-Gall.

■ Junior Most Valuable Player — Redblacks No. 17 Levi Paige.

■ Senior Most Valuable Player — Ticats No. 72 Cooper Lunn.

■ Junior Most Valuable Offensive Lineman — Roughriders No. 26 Taylor Mortensen.

■ Senior Most Valuable Offensive Lineman — Roughriders No. 32 Matthew Heise.

■ Junior Most Valuable Defensive Lineman — Redblacks No. 25 Mateo Salgado Scott.

■ Senior Most Valuable Defensive Lineman — Redblacks No. 32 Oliver Coghill.

■ Junior Most Valuable Offensive Back — Argonauts No. 19 Ethan Bebbington.

■ Senior Most Valuable Offensive Back — Ticats No. 3 Hayden Heigh.

■ Junior Most Valuable Defensive Player — Ticats No. 21 Colton Powers.

■ Senior Most Valuable Defensive Player — Roughriders No. 27 Sarah Porter.

■ Junior Most Valuable Special Teams Player — Roughriders No. 9 Michael Maier.

■ Senior Most Valuable Special Teams Player — Redblacks No. 52 Brock Hendren.

■ Junior Merit Award — Ticats No. 14 Alexander Orlandi.

■ Senior Merit Award: Argos No. 20 Theo Edwards.

Junior Coaches Award winners

Redblacks: No. 9 Harley Rock, No. 27 Roxanna Chellew-Doucet. Argonauts: No. 30 Aaron Milton. Roughriders: No. 13 Jacob Cahorn. Ticats: No. 17 Connor Dodds.

Senior Coaches Award winners

Redblacks: No. 46 Santiago Salgado Scott, No. 31 Tyler Hickson. Argonauts: No. 63 Cayden Wilson, No. 7 Landen Levesque. Roughriders: No. 7 Michael Porter. Ticats: No. 50 Diamond Fagundes, No. 32 Harlan Parker.

Hunter Cunningham from the junior Argonauts won the draw for the PlayStation 5.