Hornet football rises again

Slavco Rivard-Tait has never worn a Tec Voc Hornets jersey.

None of his teammates have either, even though many, like him, are beginning Grade 12 classes this week.

A football team nearly materialized at the school each of the last two years as the Hornets tried to revive a program that folded during the COVID-19 pandemic, by running two spring camps but failing to field a team once September rolled around.

“I was just stuck doing nothing, it was kind of sad,” said Rivard-Tait, who, against his wishes, had yet to play football at any level. “You were so close and they were like, ‘Oh, we don’t have a program.’”

The Hornets have a pulse this year and will set foot on the gridiron for the first time in four years against the Beaver Brae Broncos (Kenora) at Tec Voc on Thursday (4 p.m.), when the Winnipeg High School Football League kicks off the 2023 season.

Rivard-Tait will be used all over the field, splitting time between quarterback and receiver for a Hornets squad that has no shortage of fuel for its competitive fire.

“I think it’s going to be fun. I wish I was able to get all my years in. (It’s) definitely going to be an interesting one because we’re going to be the first team in a couple of years now,” Rivard-Tait said.

“I think we’re all very confident and we believe in our ability to win football games.”

It’s what head coach Ryan Karhut had in mind upon arriving at Tec Voc and beginning this revival project.

Karhut, who started his coaching career at Kelvin before eventually spending five years as the offensive line coach and special teams co-ordinator of the Manitoba Bisons, got his education degree during his time at the University of Manitoba and landed a job as a phys-ed teacher at Tec Voc in 2022.

It didn’t take long for him to notice the void in the school’s athletics.

“I just had a ton of kids in phys-ed that were bugging me like, ‘Why don’t we have football?’ And I was like, ‘Alright, I think we need to get football started,’” Karhut said.

The demand for a team was never more clear than when more than 50 students showed up to an informational meeting in the spring. It was at that time when Karhut made it his mission to ensure a football program would return to Tec Voc this fall.

“A big part was just that football, for me, when I was in high school, created a strong connection for me to the school,” he said.

“Being able to give kids that same opportunity — being able to connect to the school in a deeper way and have an outlet that gives them a reason to be prideful of being a Tec Voc Hornet and wanting to come to class every day and be a part of something bigger than themselves — for a lot of them, especially because of the COVID years, this is their first chance to be in a team sport.”

The Hornets’ return is one of several changes to the WHSFL this fall. A new division realignment has consolidated the traditional ‘A, AA, AAA’ structure to two conferences — ‘AAA, AAAA’ — to resemble the Manitoba High School Athletic Association. The AAAA conference, which requires a school’s student population to be greater than 650, consists of 22 teams, split into four geographical divisions: northeast, northwest, southeast and southwest.

“We’re not going to have the juggernauts like we’ve had before,” said WHSFL commissioner Jeffrey Bannon. “I think you’re going to see a lot more even play, and you’re going to see some games that are going to come down to a field goal or, heaven forbid, a rouge. That’s what really excites me this year.”

Teams will play schools in their geographical division once a year and round out their seven-game schedule with crossover games, based on the previous season’s standings. An eight-team playoff bracket will include the top program from each division and the four remaining highest-ranked teams duking it out for the Anavets Bowl. Teams ranked 9-12 will vie for the Vidruk Bowl while those 13-16 will play for the Bramwell Bowl and 17-20 compete for the Gustafson Bowl.

The 21st and 22nd-ranked squads will play in a single consolation game.

“It allows for like-size schools to play against one another and also to create those geographical rivalries, which we didn’t have before,” Bannon said. “It’s important that a Murdoch MacKay and a Miles Mac and a River East and Kildonan East can all play together.

“For Sisler, West Kildonan, Garden City and Maples to not play each other, that, to me, is a travesty because that’s the north end of football. It’s all about creating those rivalries.”

The AAA conference will feature eight schools this season, all of which will be seeded in the playoffs according to their regular-season records and play for the CanadInns Bowl.

Also returning to the WHSFL this season is nine-player football. The smaller game kept the WHSFL afloat during the pandemic and has proven to be a staple across the country for developing young talent. The junior varsity conference will field eight teams this fall, four of which will play the nine-player game (Vincent Massey Brandon, Vincent Massey Winnipeg, Steinbach and Grant Park).

“I see the future in the nine-person league, to be honest. I see that as one of the catalysts, where I’ll be spending most of my time trying to grow and get more schools into the league,” Bannon said.

Perhaps, Tec Voc’s program can regain enough strength to field a 12- and nine-person team one day. Until then, Karhut and his players are focused on making the most of an opportunity that’s eluded them for their entire high school lives.

“In the spring, when we lined up for the first time in a game, I was incredibly nervous, and I’ve coached a ton of football and played a ton of football. It’s just, they don’t know what to expect and you hope that you’ve prepared them so they can beat the moment a little bit,” Karhut said.

“In the springtime, there were some wide eyes, but then you could see the kids falling in love with the game. Now they get an opportunity to play against someone else and you can see it changing them.”

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