Inexperienced Spartans hoping to make noise this season

Sometimes it takes losing something to truly understand its value — and no one knows that better than the Neelin Spartans football program.

Neelin is entering its second consecutive season in the Rural Manitoba Football League after the club had spent several years playing nothingburger exhibition matches against Virden and Crocus following an exit from the Winnipeg High School Football League when the COVID-19 pandemic struck the province.

Now, with a group of 24 athletes returning to the fold this season, the Spartans are hoping to make up for lost time.

“The kids were very excited to get going,” said head coach Robert Cullen. “They’re wanting to be on the field to participate, and there’s just a lot of enthusiasm from all of them, so we got to just continue the Spartan tradition and make sure that we’re playing as Spartans.”

The Spartans opened up their season last weekend, falling to the Transcona Nationals 27-17, but Cullen was mostly satisfied with his team’s effort outside of a slow start, which put his team down 17-1 heading into the second half after his team gave up a 50-yard touchdown with five seconds left to play.

“I honestly thought the first game went fairly well. Like I said to them after our loss, we just have to utilize our athleticism better and be ready to go at the start,” he said. “We just made a couple mistakes defensively, and those things are correctable.”

Although Neelin never completed the comeback, they did manage to pick up its slack offensively in the latter half of the game by putting up some points on the board thanks to second-year quarterback Sean Kelly, who Cullen expects will have a big year. Kelly played four years in the Westman Youth Football Association and recorded 176 passes with the Spartans last season before he broke his collarbone.

Cullen believes Kelly’s ceiling as a QB is tremendously high, but he just needs to continue building an identity as a player.

“He passes the ball very well, he’s just got to remember to learn his skill set and use it to his advantage and not be timid,” Cullen said of Kelly. “He just needs to not get the happy feet that sometimes quarterbacks get, but he’ll learn.”

Kelly and the Spartans will also have to adapt to its offence, which looks completely different without the dynamic and dominating presence of Ethan Olson, a versatile star with Neelin who graduated last spring.

Olson registered 329 receiving yards and 171 rushing yards, so Cullen will count on new faces to help shore up that significant chunk of offence that is now gone.

Cullen knows his team is still “very green,” with a lot of players in Grade 11, so some growing pains are to be expected this season. Still, with only three teams standing between Neelin and a championship, he’s keeping his eyes on the prize.

“I’m expecting them to just play as hard as they can and get the wins when we can, and as we progress through the season, I expect to be in the championship,” he said. “That’s where I expect to be, and I hope it’s the same for these guys.”

Competing in the Murray Black Division of the RMFL, the Spartans automatically earn a spot in the postseason semifinals, alongside the Neepawa Tigers, Virden Golden Bears and Parkwest Outlaws. Last season, Neelin finished with a 1-6 record in the division before falling to the Outlaws in the semifinals. Parkwest went on to lose to the Virden Golden Bears in the Murray Black Cup final.

Neelin’s next matchup will be at home against the Neepawa Tigers on Sunday, followed by another home tilt against the Parkwest Outlaws on Friday.

» mdelucataronno@brandonsun.com