Colts open 2023 football season looking for growth

By JAMES TUBB on August 29, 2023.

jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb

The Monsignor McCoy Colts senior football team is ready for another growing season.

The Colts kicked off their 2023 high school season with exhibition action Saturday, falling 41-0 against the Strathmore Spartans. McCoy head coach Jole Krassman was happy they could get an exhibition game in this early and saw aspects they can build off from Saturday.

“We’re still a young team, we’re still growing,” Krassman said. “We have new coaches in which is awesome and helpful and we have a lot of work to do. It’s just the little things, we have to take care of knowing guys responsibilities a little bit better. We have to spend more time. It’s really tough running a seven-day camp and then trying in your first game to keep the ducks in a row but it’s a learning experience.”

The 2023 season marks Krassman’s second at the helm, having joined the team ahead of last season. McCoy’s 2022 campaign featured some growing pains with a roster largely made up of first time football players and younger athletes. While the 2023 team still has some first-years, there is a returning group from 2022 that went through the difficulties and are ready to keep getting better Krassman says.

“Last year was a tough year, a big building year and I’ve learned we have to set the high expectations but we have to be realistic with ourselves,” Krassman said. “We just have to take it one game at a time, one play at a time. We’d like to get more numbers out, obviously, everybody would with high school football, but the big thing from last season, is just being patient. Understanding and trusting the process.

“It was a big learning curve for me, it’s a big learning curve for the kids and now with the new coaching staff, it’s a new setup and system. So now it’s just learning and taking one play at a time. We’re starting off slow, hopefully we keep getting better by each weekend and we’ll see where the season takes us.”

The Colts don’t have a lot of time to reflect on Saturday’s loss, as they are in exhibition action tonight on the road. McCoy is at Lethbridge taking on the LCI Rams in another preseason contest. Krassman says it is a good matchup for them as they continue to gear up for the Rangeland Football Conference season.

“It’s tough to find games outside of our league, we have to set up all of our preseason games and our exhibition games but Patrick Leahy is the head coach out in LCI, he’s McCoy alumni as well and Brian McCauley longtime coach of the Colts out there, so it’s fitting we have those guys set up their game with us,” Krassman said. “We’re going to go to LCI and we’re just going to play a game and do the best we can.

“Getting things moving and grooving after the fact is what we’re looking for. Then we get a little bit of a break, we take the weekend off and then we come back in our first game against Brooks. We’re not looking past LCI, but it’s a preseason games and we’re still in the process of assessing our talent and finding out who’s going to be in our starting spots.”

On top of their scheduled games, the Colts, Medicine Hat High Hawks, Crescent Heights Vikings and Brooks Buffaloes, will take part in jamborees this season to further their development as a league.

“We’ve got some new coaches in the league which is awesome for football in Medicine Hat and I just want to see football just get better,” Krassman said. “We’re going to be participating in some junior jamborees with collaboration from all three teams, we’ve invited Brooks so hopefully come down and get our younger guys better. Then hopefully as the younger guys get better, the older guys will get better and we just keep improving.”

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