It’s been two years since the U of M Bisons won the Desjardins Vanier Cup, but this year’s super bowl of the CIS won’t be without its share of local talent. When the Queens Golden Gaels take the field against the Calgary Dinos on Saturday at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City, six players from Manitoba and northwestern Ontario will be vying for the Canadian college crown.

The Golden Gaels – who last week upset Laval, the number one ranked team in the nation – will rely on Grant Schelske, a running back from Beaver Brae Secondary School in Kenora, Frank Pankewich, a linebacker from Thunder Bay’s Hammerskjold High School and Nicholas Sirski, a linebacker from St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg, to help them win the championship.

The Dinos also boast three Manitobans who will do their best to take the Vanier Cup home to Calgary. Tye Noble, a defensive back and Quinn McCaughan, an offensive lineman, are graduates of Oak Park High School in Winnipeg. Offensive lineman Mark Loewen, a Fort Richmond Collegiate grad, played his football with the Fort Garry Lions in Winnipeg.

It should be a great game, and regardless of the outcome, our brand of Prairie football will be well represented.

Best of luck boys; make us proud.

The championship season may have just ended but football is far from over.

The great weather means you can get together with your buddies for one more game of touch before hanging up the cleats.

The Grey Cup is less than two weeks away.

The NFL is halfway through its season.

It may officially be the off-season but we’re always online.

Over the winter I’ll be meeting with members of the football community and TouchdownOnline will continue to cover events, offer stories, post photo galleries and provide tips for athletes and coaches.

Since kicking off in September, TouchdownOnline has enjoyed great success. I’d like to thank the football community for its ongoing support and I’m inviting everyone to continue logging in.

Remember, if you’ve got an idea for a story or a column or just want to chat about amateur football, e-mail me at contact@touchdownonline.ca.

You know it’s going to be a great day for a high school football game when the national anthem is sung by a former Stonewall Ram and current University of Manitoba Bison, Lauren Kroeker.

Standing at midfield in his Bison sweats and Rams jacket, Kroeker nailed O Canada a cappella, but his stirring rendition did as much to inspire the visiting Dauphin Clippers as it did the hometown Stonewall Rams. The Clippers edged the Rams 32-31 in overtime to win the 2009 nine-man Rural Manitoba Football League championship.

The game, played on Saturday, November 7th at Stonewall Collegiate, was a teeter-totter match between the league’s two top teams – pass-happy Dauphin with its strong-armed quarterback, Quinn Thacker, and run-content Stonewall which relied on the hard running of tailback Andrew Miskiewicz. The battle fittingly ended 24-24 in regular time.

Thacker was the overtime star for the Clippers. Trailing by seven points and facing a third and ten, the Clipper quarterback took to the ground and ran for a major. Still down by one point and without a viable kicking game, the Clippers put the ball back into Thacker’s hands. Again, he escaped a fierce Rams’ rush and sprinted to the end zone for a two-point conversion and a one-point Dauphin victory.

It was Prairie football at its finest. Under a glorious blue sky, and with solid support from their communities, the Dauphin Clippers and Stonewall Rams played hard and worked overtime to create a legendary championship game.

I saw some fantastic football at Football Manitoba's Championship Weekend. I managed to catch most of the championship games and I was impressed with the coaching, both from a technical and strategical standpoint. The grassroots game at its highest level is being coached and managed by dedicated men and women who care as much about sportsmanship as they do about sport.

I paid special attention to those players I like to call 'warriors.' They're easy to spot. They play with a bit more energy and urgency than their teammates. It doesn't matter whether they're on the winning team or losing side, they understand the game's importance. They know deep down that this is the last game.

My list of warriors includes Kelly Sansregret, quarterback of the Eastman Raiders Midget team who came back from an early injury to lead his team and his community to victory.

Then there's cornerback Tyler Borecky of the East Side Eagles Blue Atoms. The smallest player on the field – 4'2" and 60 pounds – he played fearlessly in the face of a tough Fort Garry ground game.

The Charleswood Broncos Gold Pee Wee team should be proud of the effort of Austin Coutts whose sideline-to-sideline tackles proved that you have to work hard from kickoff to final whistle.

In the Major championship, the North Winnipeg Nomads relied on running back E.J. Mina to shift momentum in their favour at a time in the game when they needed it most.

The East Side Eagles Bantam team met a powerful opponent but linebacker Brendon Gladu worked hard to help his team by making tackles and sacks throughout the game.

The list also includes the Parkwest Outlaws' Alex Bender, a defensive lineman and tight end who played a stalwart two-way game to help his club win its first Challenge Cup.

In the Minor Bantam final, two players stood out. With his team in the lead, Justin Ramgotra of the North Winnipeg Nomads East ran hard to take time off the clock in the fourth quarter. And linebacker Danniel Lesage of the Transcona Nationals never gave up. At one point, he tracked down a Nomads back to prevent a touchdown late in the game.

On every team, champion or not, there is a handful of warriors who lead by example. It was an honour to have seen them in action last weekend.

Congratulations to all the athletes, coaches, managers and trainers who played their way to a championship this weekend. It’s an exciting time and whether you win or lose you’ll have memories to last a lifetime.

I remember the first time I helped coach an Atom team to the final game. We rented a bus to take us to the stadium and, of course, our game was the first to be played on Sunday. When we rolled into view of the stadium around 8:30 a.m., one of our nine-year-olds wondered aloud, “where’s all the people?” He envisioned the seats to be filled with 25,000 screaming fans – just like he saw when he watched CFL games on TV.

While the stadium won’t be packed to capacity on Saturday and Sunday it will be filled with the spirit of your team’s effort and the applause of your family and friends.

Best of luck at Championship Weekend.