NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
The McCoy Colts team award winners pose with their medals presented at the teams final dinner of the season on Sunday.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Just as they’ve done before every game this season, the McCoy Colts gathered for one last dinner on Sunday.
The Colts, whose season ended Oct. 29 with a 15-14 win over the Brooks Buffalos for third place in the Rangeland Football conference, celebrated the campaign and handed out their team awards at the dinner.
Head coach Darrell Grass says it’s bitter sweet to say goodbye to the seniors, but it’s always nice to be together.
“It is hard to say goodbye to these guys but what you have to do is look at the new crop coming in next year and hopefully we have the same type of positive experience,” Grass said.
Grass says the Colts improved throughout the season and it showed in their win against Brooks for third place.
“From day one to where we ended off, to see the little improvements here and there and the little victories that we got, especially with the lack of experience on the team… they just kept getting better every week,” Grass said.
Senior Xavier Bueckert, who was named the Colts offensive player of the year, echoed Grass’ summary of the season.
“We started down low and we started picking it up and we showed what Colts football is about and we dug out a win,” Bueckert said.
Bueckert says it was nice to have his hard work recognized, but credited his linemen for the honour.
“It’s just a little bit of payoff for the time I put in and it’s not just from me, it’s from all of the other guys and girls I work with,” Bueckert said. “The tremendous work that we put in this season.”
Kai Kukurudza was named the Colts rookie of the year and Hunter Hintz was chosen as the most improved Colts player on the season.
McCoy’s most valuable lineman was awarded to Saige Robinson and David Domba was named the leader of team spirit for the McCoy Colts.
Logan McCombe was named the Colt’s unsung hero on the year and Logan Schlosser took home the defensive player of the season.
Schlosser says there were other guys on the defensive side of the ball that could have taken home the award, but he was glad to be honoured.
“I think there was a bunch of other guys that could have got the defence award, I’m glad I got it,” Schlosser said. “I think overall our defence was generally good this year and I’m glad to get the award.”
Colton Robinson was named the most valuable player on McCoy and Tyler Myers was given the GOAT key chain for his standout play throughout the season.
Grass says it’s tough picking awards for individual players in a team sport like football, but said before the awards presentation, it took the team working together for the individuals to succeed.
“It’s a team effort,” Grass said. “We’re recognizing individuals but it’s definitely a team effort. The coaches, we had quite a lot of conversations, we had a lot of input from our players, so it’s tough just to single one guy out.”
Bueckert was also named the top lineman on the year among the four teams in the RFC. He said he’ll never forget all of the family dinners the Colts shared in his time playing football for McCoy.
“These team dinners I will never forget,” Bueckert said. “I will be talking about these to my grandchildren and I can’t wait to share my memories of this.”
The all-star selections and awards for the RFC were also handed out last Sunday.
Look for a story later in the week with quotes from Bueckert and other award winners.
