Oak Park's extraordinary season ends in heartbreak

For the mighty Oak Park Raiders football team, the sting of losing the ANAVETS Bowl 11-3 to the defending champion Dakota Lancers will likely linger for some time.

That was evident from the tears of heartache the young men shed as they stood on their 50-yard line for the closing ceremony.

But as time passes the hope is they will be able to take solace in the incredible, historic season they had, and smile again knowing they accomplished something very special.

They went undefeated in the regular season and didn’t allow a single point – a feat that has never been done before and will almost certainly never be repeated. 

Huge congratulations to Coach Ollson and his staff and all the players, not just for their amazing success they enjoyed on the field this year, but also for putting in the untold hours of training, practice, weightlifting, watching video, coaches’ meetings and walk throughs.

The football program that Stu Nixon started and Chris Ollson is continuing, is a national powerhouse for a reason.

The Raiders didn’t finish second in the province and sixth in the nation by fluke – they earned their success through hard work, determination and discipline.

The ANAVETS Bowl was a clash of the titans, with the Dakota Lancers coming into the game as defending champs and ranked second in the country.

A WHSFL official said that what football fans watched last night was historic - never before has Manitoba placed two teams in the top 10 national rankings.

Given how stingy both defenses were all season – Oak Park scored 346 points while allowing no points against and Dakota scored 332 and only allowed 8 points – it wasn’t a huge surprise that defense ruled the day. 

Just how dominant was the defense? Despite having two of the most prolific offences in all of Canada, the game was 5-3 Dakota with only around a minute left in the game.

Congratulations to the Lancers on their repeat victory.

And congratulations to our Raiders. You left it all on the field. You poured your hearts and souls into getting into the final. The game – a defensive battle that went right down to the wire – could have easily gone Oak Park’s way.

The ending wasn’t what the Raiders and their boisterous fans had hoped for, but Oak Park can hold their broad shoulders high. They put together a season for the ages!