Joe McWilliams
Lakeside Leader

It takes time to get a high school football program going from scratch. Throw a pandemic into the mix and it takes twice as long.

But it appears Roland Michener School’s fledgling effort is starting to take shape. Kids are out practicing this fall, for the first time, and teacher/coach Taylor Hulme is looking at a 2022 start.

“We’ll start league play next fall,” he says.

Hulme first announced his intention to get football going at RMS in late 2019 or early 2020. It had to be deferred for a year due to COVID. But this fall he’s got 20 – 24 high school students out practicing two afternoons a week.

Most of the students are brand new at the game, not even having played scrub football. A couple, Hulme says, have had experience at other schools in other towns. As for quarterbacking prospects (that vital position), Hulme says the main one at the moment is in Grade 12, so he won’t be available to play next fall. So he’s got his eye out for someone else with a talent for throwing, and who can keep his cool while large young men are trying to knock him over.

Hulme says it’s likely the Rams will start off playing six-man football, given the numbers. It could go differently, if a lot of people commit to the program by next spring. Six-man football is played on a smaller field (100 x 50 yards) and with a few other differences.

“Most guys are eligible (pass receivers),” he says, including some linemen.”

Another twist is the point-after system is reversed. In other words, the kick is worth two points, but if you run it across the line it’s worth just one.