The players and coaching staff for the St. Paul Bengals and St. Paul Lions football teams took to the field in earnest this past week in order to prepare for their respective season openers, which are less than two weeks away.
At the conclusion of week one of training camp, the head coaches of both teams like what they see.
“I was actually really surprised with how well the players have done and with how they responded to what we told them on Monday (first day of camp),” said Travis Rolheiser, a co-head coach with the Bengals. “Some of them have not played football until spring camp but they came back and picked up things very quick.”
For St. Paul Lions head coach Todd Tanasichuk, the results of last Tuesday’s physical testing night was the first positive development in a strong first week of fall training camp.
“We were really impressed with the results. The tests have made it evident that we have some really good team speed. The strength component of our team has also gone up. Of the 28 boys who had tested in the spring and were retested, 21 of them were stronger, two were the same, and five took a step back. That is very encouraging that 21 of the 28 have improved. It tells me that they have been in the gym and they are taking this seriously.”
A review of football basics took place near the beginning of both the Bengals and Lions camp. One of the reasons for this is because both teams picked up some new players over the summer break.
As the camp progressed last week the attention turned to working on specific offensive and defensive systems. Both coaches told the Journal that perfecting these schemes will be a focal point of practices this week, as well as some work on offensive and defensive timing. The goal is for both teams to be completely in sync going into the regular season.
Both the Bengals and Lions have high expectations on how it should perform next season.
“I really think we have a strong team,” says Rolheiser. “I am impressed with how our new players are performing.”
“I think we have a much stronger team than we had last year,” says Simon Chamberlenz, a Lions player that alternates between slot back and wide receiver. “I think we are one of the top contenders for the titles this year.”
“This could be a special team,” says Tanasichuk. “You try not to get ahead of yourself, but I like that the boys think we can be special.”
Tanasichuk adds that a major focus of the Lions camp has been to forge a “strong brotherhood mentality.” He says there has been a “good team first attitude” developing on the field.
While the Lions won’t face off against opposition until the beginning of the Wheatland Football League (WFL) season, the Bengals will be heading to Bonnyville this week to participate in a Saturday jamboree. This will be the second jamboree for the Bengals leading up to the Wheatland Bantam Football League (WBFL) season. It hosted a jamboree back in June.
2015 St. Paul Lions WFL Schedule:
Sept. 4: Lions @ Athabasca
Sept. 11: Lloydminster @ Lions
Sept. 18: Bonnyville @ Lions
Sept. 25: Vegreville @ Lions
Oct. 2: TBD @ Lions
Oct. 8: Lions @ Wainwright
Oct. 16: WFL Playoffs Week One (1st in Pool A and B have a bye)
Oct. 23/24: WFL Championship Semi-Final and Consolation Semi-Final
Oct. 30/31: WFL League Championship Game and Consolation Final
2015 St. Paul Bengals WBFL Schedule:
Sept. 5: Bengals @ Cold Lake
Sept. 12: Lloydminster Mustangs @ Bengals
Sept. 19: Bonnyville @ Bengals
Sept. 26: Bengals @ Lloydminster Chargers
Oct. 3 and 10th: Bye
Oct. 17: Cold Lake @ Bengals
Oct. 24: Bengals @ Lloydminster Mustangs
Oct. 31: WBFL Semi-Finals
Nov. 7: WBFL League Championship