Campbell beats Leboldus in city high school football final

The Campbell Tartans have won the 2024 city 6A football championship, defeating the Leboldus Golden Suns 28-20 on Friday.

It was Campbell Collegiate’s first championship since 2017.

Fresh off a Gatorade shower in the cold, Tartans head coach Kelly Adams said it was the culmination of a long journey.

“(I’m) very satisfied, happy for these guys. They deserve it,” Adams said.

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“We kind of had a goal from the start, we knew we had a pretty strong team and good Grade 12s, so we set our sights on this from the very beginning and the kids have worked so hard.”

Adams credited the countless hours of practice for the win, as well as training with Athletic Focus coach Trina Markusson.

“It’s been a while coming, but (we’ve) been building towards it. We had a rough couple of years there. We had an 0-6 (season) two years ago which these guys were part of and now that we’ve got the city championship, it’s pretty great.”

Grade 12 quarterback Adrian Reaume was part of that 0-6 team and said the journey from then until Friday’s victory was guided by a strong belief and desire to win.

“It’s electric, man,” Reaume said.

“Even this season when it didn’t look like it could happen, we came together and we just wanted it more than anyone else and that’s why we’re here right now.”

Reaume, the dual-threat signal caller, spearheaded a strong ground attack through a mix of scrambles and designed runs.

He managed a pair of rushing touchdowns and found Grade 11 receiver Noah Greenslade in the endzone for passing touchdown.

Grade 12 receiver and kicked Spiro Giannoutsos hit the point-after on every Tartan touchdown.

The Golden Suns weren’t able to get much going offensively through the air for most of the game and relied on Grade 12 running back Caleb Masambombo’s electrifying rushing production to move the sticks.

LeBoldus was able to claw their way back from a 21-6 deficit at half with a Masambombo touchdown in the third quarter, capitalizing on an interception grabbed by Grade 11 Golden Suns defensive back Ezekiel Paul.

Grade 10 Tartans receiver Daniel Potgieter found the endzone with 3:55 left in the fourth quarter, making the score 28-13, but another Masambombo touchdown made it 28-20.

Campbell’s defence was able to secure the win after a stalled drive.

“I’m just so happy that we won the city championship. I want to thank my D-line for helping me,” said linebacker and offensive tackle Zach Zipchian.

“When we were back in Grade 10 — 0-6. Could you believe that? 0-6 to city champs? I’m going to be so happy about this,” he said.

Adams said it was “so sweet” to win against their longtime south Regina rivals, who had defeated the three-time defending champions Miller Marauders the week before.

“If I could have written it, I wouldn’t have written it any better,” Adams said.

Read more

• Armstead is back, joins Ouellette in Riders backfield for West semifinal
• Riders, Lions ready to clash in CFL West semifinal