Hat High Hawks focused on game by game approach

By JAMES TUBB on August 25, 2022.

The Hat High Hawks football team enters the 2022 season looking to defend their Rangeland Football Conference championship from 2021. But don’t ask them about it because they’re taking the season one game at a time.

“As far as setting team goals, I know for a fact that Rangeland will always be one of our priority team goals at the end of the year and that would give us a good year, and a great year then is putting our eyes on the Zones,” Hawks head coach Quinn Skelton said. “At Zones, everything there would be just gravy on top for us. Rangeland is always important to us and if we have a good year, Rangeland is included in that and a great year would be a zone championship as well.”

The Hawks were undefeated in RFC action last season but won’t have many of the same athletes they did come this year. Skelton said they had a turnover of 21 Grade 12s but have added 24 Grade 10 athletes to their roster for this season. He says it was bittersweet losing that group of Grade 12s but said any athlete in any grade can grab a starting spot this season.

“We’ve graduated a very good group of kids and a great group to work with for the last three years. So it’s bittersweet having them leave the program, but also excited to watch a number of them go on and play at the next level,” Skelton said. “No different than our last group when they came in, we had six or seven Grade 10s who started for us three years ago with that group and no different for any grade 10, 11 or 12. The best man will start, period. You get the opportunity to earn your way off the field and on the field. That doesn’t matter what grade you’re in.”

Skelton, who is entering his 25th year of coaching, is the only head coach from the 2021 season still active in the RFC as all three of the Crescent Heights Vikings, McCoy Colts and Brooks Buffalos have hired new head coaches. He said he is excited to work with and see how the new coaches take over the reins.

In 2021 the Hawks faced off against multiple division II and division I teams in exhibition contests alongside their RFC schedule. They will continue that this year taking on mostly Div. II schools like Grande Prairie and Lloydminster, as well as Div. I schools such as Okotoks and Raymond.

Skelton said they learned last season they can compete against those Div. I and II teams and that they still have some work to do to continue building in that direction.

“The quality of our competition is what’s going to build our program and attract kids to play in football at a tier-one level as well,” Skelton said. “The speed of the game is different, the physicality of the game is definitely different but we found that we can compete.”

The Hawks open their season Friday with an exhibition game against Holy Trinity Academy at the Methanex Bowl before kicking off their RFC regular season Sept. 1 against Brooks, also at the Bowl.

Friday’s game gets underway at 5 p.m.

Share this story: