Football program rebuild in store at Winston Churchill

By Lethbridge Herald on September 2, 2022.

Herald Photo by Justin Seward Winston Churchill High School football players practice a kick return drill during practice on Thursday.

By Justin Seward

Lethbridge Herald

The Winston Churchill High School Bulldogs football team have gone winless over the last number of seasons and will be looking to turn the program around as they head into a new season.

“Yeah, I think you always want to try and improve upon your last season and your last game and always be working to get better,” said Jonathan Dick, WCHS football head coach.

“But specifically with our program — we’re not going to sugar coat it — we’ve been struggling a fair bit the last few years and then COVID hit and last year we actually had a great turnout. We probably had more guys on our roster than we’ve had in a number of years but very inexperienced.”

Dick factored in that inexperience came with the Grade 12s.

“We had a lot of Grade 12 guys that had never played the sport before, so they were starting from scratch and that made it pretty tough last year,” said Dick.

“So, yeah, we would love to build on what we started last year kind of following COVID and continue to improve.”

The roster challenges came after  WCHS graduated 16 players from last year’s roster.

“That’s kind of left us with our numbers a little bit lower so far, but we do anticipate getting a few more guys out next week once school starts,” said Dick.

“Yeah the boys have been out working hard for the last couple of weeks and sweating it out in the heat and the guys that have been out so far have been very committed and like I said have been working really hard. So we’re very impressed with what we’re seeing and hopefully we can capitalize on that and build some success moving into the season.”

Dick admits in the past, the coaching staff have jumped to negativity a little too fast and have met a couple times this season to figure out ways to stay positive and make sure the kids are having fun on the field.

“So I think that positive attitude coming from the coaches is kind of the start and obviously you see the trickle-down effect on the players and I think so far in these first two weeks, the guys that are out are having a lot of fun,” said Dick.

The key to success for this team will be player commitment and making sure the players are out practicing every day and not taking steps backwards.

“Hopefully we can get that commitment and that consistency having guys out every day,” he said.

Bulldogs quarterback Brady Wilson said this year expectations are a bit higher because everyone’s got at least a couple years under their belt.

“So we’re hoping at least maybe a playoff win,” said Wilson.

“You know get a little further rather than just being known the ‘easy win’ team when we get played against.”

Wilson was the back-up quarterback on the team last year and now feels like more of leader this year and has more of a voice.

“So it’s easier to have a louder voice, I would say,” he said.

He hopes to bring a balance offensive approach to the gridiron.

“(I) don’t really want a really heavy run offence or heavy pass offence — really we want a good mix of both,” said Wilson.