KRUG CRAWFORD AWARD: Sharp leads Vikings to dream season

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This article was published 02/01/2022 (1483 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The play had no business working.

Facing second-down-and-20 from the Steinbach Sabres’ 51-yard line, Justin Sharp had four receivers to his right and the pass rush immediately forced him left.

He scrambled and set his feet to find Matthew Escoto blanketed by defenders. The quarterback pump-faked, back-pedalled half a dozen steps and tossed a video-game-perfect strike to his wideout, who broke off his route and improvised like kids tossing the pigskin around a playground. Escoto lunged and picked the ball out of the black November sky, tapping his feet down on the frozen turf just in time before stumbling into a Sabres bench filled with disbelief.

Twenty-seven yards. First down.

Over on the Vincent Massey Vikings sideline, offensive co-ordinator Brady Dane turned to Rob Pink as surprised as anyone in attendance at the Winnipeg High School Football League’s Westman Bowl.

“I can’t even believe what we just saw,” Dane recalled telling his O-line coach through his foggy breath.

“It wasn’t drawn up to look like that in any stretch … they just have such an ability, not only for Justin to make that throw physically, but to be rolling out and even thinking about throwing it.”

“It really scares the opponents,” added Vikings head coach Mike Steeves. “It really inspires our side because he just made an unbelievable play down the sideline and not only did he make the throw, our receiver made the catch. That just changed the way the game flow went. It gives us confidence in any situation.

“Those are moments that you’ll hardly ever see in high school football.”

Two plays later, Sharp pulled the ball down and took off, splitting a pair of pass rushers and outrunning the entire Steinbach secondary to the right corner of the end zone, bowling over Kaeden Wiebe for a touchdown. That made the score 31-3 Vikings with just over seven minutes left in the third quarter, a lead they would not relinquish en route to a 31-23 victory, capping off a perfect 7-0 season.

It’s safe to say that doesn’t happen without Justin Sharp, the winner of the 64th annual H.L. (Krug) Crawford Award as The Brandon Sun’s Westman sportsperson of the year.

He’s the second football player to receive the honour, along with Massey alumnus and former NFL defensive lineman Israel Idonije (2002).

“Justin threw for three touchdowns, 200-and-some yards, ran for just under 100 yards and a touchdown in a game we needed every single one of those points to win,” Dane said. “It’s probably tough to top that.”

 

WEIGHT LOSS

Sharp finished the year completing 55 per cent of his passes for 1,473 yards, 21 touchdowns and four interceptions, adding five majors on the ground.

And those numbers pale in comparison to his incredible off-season stat.

In December 2020, the five-foot-nine high school sophomore read “240 pounds” on his scale and realized quarterbacks don’t look like that.

He devised a plan with a high-protein, low-carb diet and rigorous training schedule to make a monumental change in the middle of a COVID-19 lockdown.

Sharp teamed up with Brandon U18 AAA Wheat Kings forward Nolan Chastko, with an agreement to hold each other accountable.

“What are you going to do today to get better?” they’d text in the morning. “Did you do what you said you were going to do?” in the evening.

Sharp put at least two hours in every day, with more than 200 pushups, whatever exercises he could do with 35-pound dumbbells at home and runs as the weather warmed up.

He dipped below 190 pounds for the first time since Grade 8 in less than three months. By football season, he was in the 170s, stronger and faster than ever.

“That was probably one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen, to be honest,” Chastko said. “It was very impressive to see him do that. Me and him talk about it lots. He talked about how he wanted to do it but for him to actually accomplish that and get where he is now is pretty surreal.”

“It definitely caught me by surprise,” added Vikings wideout Aaron Pasaporte. “I didn’t believe it was him at first, I thought it was Photoshop, really, then seeing it in person, seeing the potential he had after that … all the progress, it was a blessing and an honour to see it all.”

Sharp plays just about every sport he can, setting for the volleyball team during football season and manning the basketball team’s backcourt now. He admits he wonders from time to time what it’d be like if he hadn’t transformed his body. But he says deep down, he knew it was something he simply had to do.

His JV Vikings went undefeated in 2019 and he lost the 2020 campaign to COVID-19, so as far as he’s concerned, failure on the football field is utterly foreign.

Not that success or greatness comes easy. Coach Steeves preaches that football games are won and lost in the off-season and Sharp embraced the challenge.

“You just got to be committed 100 per cent mentally. You can’t let yourself slack off,” Sharp said. “You slack off once, it gives yourself an excuse to slack off again. If you do slack off, you also have to be able to pick yourself back up and say, ‘Hey, that’s not what I want to do; it’s not going to happen again,’ then keep moving forward.”

 

WIDE-OPEN PLAYBOOK

The Vikings have historically been a run-heavy team, seldom scaring an opposing defensive back.

At times that was a lack of arm talent, others simply stout O-lines and bruising backs that could wear teams down over 48 minutes.

Dane recalls a quarterback about a decade ago that rivalled Sharp’s cannon but said the group around him wasn’t experienced enough to find success through the air. Players would mistime routes, drop passes and struggle. Much to Dane’s delight this year, however, he had the best signal-caller and receiving corps he’s ever coached.

Escoto, Pasaporte, Lucas Cels and Brady McDuffe don’t jump off the page as freak athletes — they’re all under six-foot — but Dane quickly saw something special in the group of Grade 11s.

“We’ve had a lot of physically gifted guys … but these guys are football players. They’re fast, they’re actually all very strong, they’re gym guys but they are football first in a way you don’t often see,” Dane said. “As Grade 11 guys, the way they run routes, the way they understand what you’re trying to do … their football IQ and their awareness for things like that is where they separate themselves.

“It’s a privilege and a joy to show up at practice with those guys. I told them before our last game of the season how much I appreciated them allowing me to coach them. I’m not necessarily coming in there and teaching Justin how to be a better quarterback … it’s so impressive how advanced they are so I look at it as I’m as appreciative as anyone to be a part of it with these guys. 

“We had more plays and more different passes in the playbook this year than we have ever had.”

Before the summer, Sharp expected to split quarterback reps with classmate C.J. Jones, but he moved away and left Sharp the clear-cut starter.

That was fine with Jacob Doerksen, the senior linebacker, running back and captain who played varsity in 2019. He had complete faith in placing his team’s fate on a junior’s shoulders.

“Everybody had a lot of confidence in him. I mean, you can see it in the way the play-calling has been. Massey is typically not a passing school, we run the ball a lot but there was a lot of passing this year and that’s because we had a guy who could do that,” Doerksen said.

“I’d seen him in WYFA (Westman Youth Football Association), flag leagues and JV and I think we were all pretty confident in his abilities to throw the ball.”

 

SUMMER SESSIONS

If you drive by Doug Steeves Field throughout the summer, you can expect to see Sharp and his pass-catchers honing their craft more days than not.

It’s been going on for more than four years, long before they suited up in school colours together. Pasaporte said it’s easy to get up for those days since it means hanging out with his best friends and doing what they love. They aren’t afraid to call each other out if they get lazy, though that’s the last thing any of them gets accused of.

Sharp takes it a big step further, spending part of every summer weekend in Winnipeg with Big Air Academy, a skill-development camp established in 2017. He says it worked wonders for his game.

“I needed to get reps in because I hadn’t played any sports at that size,” Sharp said. “I didn’t know how I moved, didn’t know how my mechanics were anymore. Big Air helped fine-tune everything to not necessarily how it was, but how it needs to be. It didn’t just help me with my throwing but my base athletically, figuring out how I move and how I work.”

The guys were devastated to lose their Grade 10 season but refused to let a cancellation hinder their development. They knew whenever their next game was, they’d be ready.

“Makes it easy. Makes it look like you’re a good coach,” Steeves said with a chuckle. “It’s contagious. It got me excited, it got other players excited, other coaches excited, it makes the program run smoother … to have that group of guys committed, drag some other guys to be committed … when we started the season we probably had an advantage on some of the other teams.”

 

EARLY SEASON

The Vikings certainly looked like the favourite in the four-team Westman Division from the start. Massey scrimmaged against Portage and Crocus Plains the week before the regular season and Sharp carved both defences up with surgical precision.

That day, finally dropping back in the pocket and letting the ball fly to his guys in purple and white, he knew the process was worth it.

Points weren’t so easy to come by the first game, though. The Trojans’ defence stepped up as Chase Fedak picked off a Sharp pass early in Massey’s home opener. It wasn’t until the end of the first half Sharp hit Escoto with a bullet on a slant route, sending his No. 1 target 53 yards for a touchdown. 

The QB rushed for Massey’s other major in the second half, then saw Portage cut the lead to 14-7 just inside the three-minute warning.

That was Sharp’s cue.

He scrambled for 15 yards and a key first down, then tucked the ball and ran three plays later on a massive third-and-12 play near midfield. Unwilling to go down easy, he drew major fouls on both runs to push Massey inside Kevin Garcia’s field-goal range. The kicker iced it, 17-7.

No one held the Vikings under 30 points after that. None came within 20 until the final.

Every Viking wholeheartedly believed the words they yelled in their pre-game huddle. “Who’s got my back?” Sharp would bark. “We got your back,” they’d reply.

 

LOCKER-ROOM LEADER

The same in the huddle, on the sideline, on the practice field and in the hallways. When Sharp speaks, the guys listen.

It’s not all talk, either. The quarterback covers kicks and expects to be the first one downfield to stick a tackle. He needs reminding that his health is worth more than the extra few yards of field position he’d allow his opponent by easing up.

Steeves said he’s the first player to watch game film, understands the sport better than anyone and truly enjoys the whole process.

He’s an easy leader to get behind.

“He’s right now the star of the program but when you put in the time, he’s going to commit like that and he puts in the extra effort, you either buy in or hit the road. It’s easy to trust and believe and listen to a guy who has done all the things he’s asking you to do,” Steeves said.

“… We have Jacob Doerksen and Nolan Bower who put in all that time, Carter Moore, those guys who are the leaders are putting in the time and effort. You should listen, follow.”

“He’s the quarterback and he is a leader. He’s definitely earned that through his work ethic and you can just tell that everybody respects him,” Doerksen added.

“You just watch him and you can just see, throughout the season he had some injuries and he does what he can. Even if he can’t practise on a day he’s going to be there, paying attention, taking those mental reps. He does everything he can, puts in a lot of work and he’s a special player.”

Sharp embraces the role.

“A lot of responsibility for sure, but I don’t see that as an issue, I see that as a gift,” Sharp said. “I’m very fortunate to have teammates that are willing to put it on the line for each other. Anybody would be proud to lead a team like that. we have other leaders on our team as well, Jacob Doerksen, Nolan Bower, Ry Morcombe, Braden Gustafson, I could go on for days. There are lots of players anyone can look up to and that was a very good trait of our team.”

 

WELL-OILED MACHINE

Massey hit a snag early in its second game against Steinbach, going down two touchdowns early. The Sabres stifled their ground game and essentially forced Sharp to win with his arm, much to their peril.

Dane would never have considered abandoning the run in past years but decided to try it.

“A common coach-speak cliché is, ‘A short pass is as good as a run,’ and 99 per cent of the time, especially if you’re coaching high school football, that isn’t true. There’s so much more that can go wrong on that pass,” Dane said. “But this year, it wasn’t a cliché and it wasn’t a line to portray confidence … it was 100 per cent true that a short pass was as good, if not better than a run. It was that reliable, that automatic and the hands were there.”

Sharp, who had just been named the WHSFL player of the week, went 19-for-29 through the air with 270 yards and three majors, including 12 for 151 yards and two scores to Pasaporte as Massey cruised to a 36-14 victory.

“You always worry when a kid’s excelling so much, you worry ‘Is it going to his head? What’s his attitude?’ You’re going to struggle at times and sometimes the ego, confidence, all that can become toxic if things don’t go right,” Dane said.

“… He never, to me, got way down. I thought he always lifted the team up and I suppose winning makes all that easier too but he’s always easy to talk to.

“He was mad at himself if he made a mistake … We talked about it but he was never defensive, he’d hold his receivers accountable … but he’d hold himself accountable and I don’t have a single complaint about how he carried himself and how he was on the sideline.”

 

WESTMAN BOWL

The initial plan for the first WHSFL season in two years was utterly bizarre. It featured random half games and scrimmages, with just a couple of standard contests towards the end.

Even once plans for the divisional format were ironed out, there was no post-season on the calendar.

The Westman Bowl was added late and almost didn’t happen when the Nov. 13 snowstorm stopped the Sabres and Vikings from travelling to East Side Eagles Field.

The game was postponed to Nov. 18. It would start late on a brisk afternoon and extend into a bone-chilling night under the lights.

“The cold was not the issue, whatsoever. We came dressed,” Sharp said. “The energy on the bus on the way there, it was lively … a lot of the boys it was their last game and all you could do was make the most of it.

“For those who it wasn’t their last game, it was ‘Play for your brothers who it is their last game, don’t be the reason why they don’t have a good last game.’”

The game started as a field-position battle as the wind dictated play more than any player. The Sabres conceded a safety to open the scoring, then the Vikings defence made a huge play as Josh Atchison pounced on a fumble in Sabres territory.

Sharp scrambled for a pair of third-down conversions and fired a four-yard touchdown strike to Pasaporte. The offence took off from there.

“It was slow motion, really. I felt on that play I could see their defence like it was painted in a picture in front of me and Justin delivered the perfect ball I needed,” Pasaporte said.

“As a receiving corps, it meant the world to us, seeing how all our hard work through the year paid off at the end. Just because some weather changed doesn’t change the way we play football, doesn’t change the way our offence works, our team works.”

Cels hauled in a pair of Sharp bombs, then Escoto torched his man and made a down payment on an acreage in the end zone before securing a routine toss from Sharp.

Doerksen blocked a punt on the ensuing drive, Atchison recovered inside the 10-yard line and McDuffe made a fantastic leaping catch to bring the ball down on his man’s head.

Massey went into the break ahead 24-3.

The massive play to Escoto extended a five-minute touchdown drive to go up 28. While Steinbach came up with 20 fourth-quarter points, aided by the one throw Sharp wanted back, the damage was done.

The Vikings recovered an onside kick in the final minute, then Sharp took matters into his own hands one last time, charging through the line for the game-sealing first down.

Pandemonium hit two kneels later.

Sharp’s line was 10-for-22 with 189 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. He rushed for another 92 and a score.

“That’s the O-line and receivers doing their job and making it easy for me. If you throw another group of receivers in front of me, I can’t promise the same results … If you throw another O-line in front of me, I can’t promise the same results, same thing goes to the running backs,” Sharp said.

“My best weapon is being able to work with the players I had. I had very good receivers and two great backs in the backfield that made amazing blocks. I didn’t have any pressure. The O-line did a great job throughout the whole season. I think I got sacked three times throughout the whole season, which over seven games, you can’t ask for anything better.”

 

MOVING FORWARD

Unknowns still rule the day in these pandemic times. Sharp and the Vikings may not see the end of their varsity basketball season, making it three consecutive years provincial hoops champs won’t be crowned.

Sharp will control what he can. That means trying to find football to play over the winter and getting back to intense workouts. He’s planning to bulk up, increase his strength and lean out to 185 pounds, about 10 more than he played at this year, in time for training camp.

“That’s a little bit scary after cutting a bunch of weight because it almost feels like you’re undoing progress but at the same time you got to trust the process,” Sharp said. 

“… Mentally, it’s ‘Always be prepared.’ Failure, I’m not saying scoreboard wise, but failure as in going out there and not giving it 100 per cent, not showing what you can do, that’s just not an option.”

» tfriesen@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @thomasmfriesen

 

PAST WINNERS

2021 — Justin Sharp, football

2020 — Austin Dobrescu, golf

2019 — Kristen Campbell, hockey

2018 — Lara Denbow, track and field

2017 — Pat Lamont, trapshooting

2016 — Isabela Onyshko and Lorie Henderson, gymnastics

2015 — Braden Calvert, curling

2014 — Isabela Onyshko, gymnastics

2013 — Halli Krzyzaniak, hockey

2012 — Rob Fowler, curling

2011 — Mark Stone, hockey

2010 — Paul Sanderson, volleyball

2009 — Lisa Barclay, volleyball

2008 — Brayden Schenn, hockey

2007 — Mark Derlago, hockey

2006 — Jenna Kerbis, gymnastics

2005 — Eric Fehr, hockey

2004 — Neil Andrews, curling, baseball

2003 — Jordin Tootoo, hockey

2002 — Israel Idonije, football

2001 — Jerry Hemmings, basketball

2000 — Shane Moffatt, baseball

1999 — Reed Eastley, baseball, volleyball

1998 — Cory Cyrenne, hockey

1997 — Grady Manson, hockey

1996 — Carmen Hurd, track and field

1995 — Kelly McCrimmon, hockey

1994 — Pam Flick, basketball

1993 — Marty Murray, hockey

1992 — Sandra Hamilton, basketball

1991 — Joey Vickery, basketball

1990 — Trevor Kidd, hockey

1989 — Shirley Bray, curling

1988 — Patrick Jebbison, basketball

1987 — Mabel Mitchell, curling

1986 — John Carson, basketball

1985 — Al Robertson, baseball

1984 — Ray Ferraro, hockey

1983 — Cathy Woodmass, water skiing

1982 — Jerry Hemmings, basketball

1981 — Diane Ogibowski, figure skating

1980 — Dan Halldorson, golf

1979 — Dunc McCallum, hockey

1978 — Glen Hanlon, hockey

1977 — Dan Halldorson, golf

1976 — Bob Thompson, baseball, hockey

1975 — Karen Anderson, curling, fastball

1974 — Jack Brockest, hockey

1973 — Ron Chipperfield, hockey

1972 — Lawrie Lewis, track and field

1971 — Gary Howard, basketball

1970 — Don Sumner, baseball, curling

1969 — Vailla Hoggan, water skiing

1968 — Buck Matiowski, recreation

1967 — Gerry MacKay, baseball, curling

1966 — Juha Widing, hockey

1965 — Bill Robinson, gymnastics

1964 — Lynda Kidd, basketball, softball

1963 — Earl Dawson, hockey

1962 — Fred Pilcher, curling

1961 — Ron Maxwell, hockey

1960 — Jake Milford, hockey

1959 — Mike Doig, shooting

1958 — Jack Matheson, hockey, golf