Manning up: Ernest Manning High School basking in the glory of first provincial football championship

Video provided by the Ernest Manning Griffins football team shows head coach Garth Melrose getting a Gatorade shower after winning the provincial football championship.

For the first time in school history, the Ernest Manning Griffins are senior boys provincial football champs.

The Griffins got the job done on Saturday taking down the mighty Raymond Comets 28-24 in the championship game.

Receiver Alex Poitevien was one of the heroes – he scored the game-winning touchdown with just over a minute left on the clock.

Poitevien says he can’t take all of the credit.

“It was just kind of a sigh of relief,” he said.

“It was just all about the guys that got us down to that position because I didn’t have to do too much. We were in the red zone, like the five-yard line. Damien Cherry, our running back is what got us down there.”

REVENGE FUELLED THE GRIFFINS

Beating the Comets was revenge for what happened last year.

In the provincial semi-final, the Comets walloped the Griffins 48-6.

Caleb Wright plays on the offensive and defensive line. He says that score is something the club has never forgotten.

“Me and my brother actually have that written in our home gym, on the wall it’s 48-6. Every workout it’s 48-6. We got beat so bad by them and it was frankly embarrassing and we just showed them that we’re here to stay and we’re not a bad team like they thought we were,” he said.

HAD TO COMEBACK

Caleb’s twin brother Cohen Wright is Manning’s quarterback.

Beating the Comets wasn’t easy. Manning trailed 24-6 at one point in the game. But there was a belief they could come back just like they did in the city final when they trailed St. Francis 17-0. Cohen says belief is in their DNA.

“With our group, we like to keep things light,” Cohen said.

“No moment is too big for us and we really knew that we had them. We knew what we needed to do to beat them and we just kept working at it throughout the game and it just paid dividends towards the end.”

SCHOOLS TROPHY

The players returned to classes on Monday and got a lot of congratulations from teachers and fellow students.

Running back Damien Cherry says winning this championship wasn’t just for them, it was for the entire school.

“Most kids you dream of that, but until you‘re in that moment and holding that trophy, you realize your school gets to be on that trophy,” Cherry said.

“Bringing it to our school and letting the students know that we did that for you. We did that for last year’s team and for teams before that. We wanted to make sure that this is our trophy. This is Ernest Manning’s trophy right here.”

CREATING A DYNASTY

Head coach Garth Melrose got the Gatorade shower after the game and he was totally okay with that.

He says he couldn’t be more proud of this group and what they’ve been able to accomplish throughout high school.

“You know the word we’ve been using is dynasty,” Melrose said.

“Our kids in Grade 10, they won the division one city championship. In grade 11, we won the division one championship and in grade 12, the division one championship and now the ASAA (Alberta Schools Athletic Association) Provincial banner. So these boys are a dynasty.”