PIT Football Recap | Winter Season

PIT Football had an exciting return to indoor touch and flag football in the Winter.

A record 171 teams competed for 36 championship titles.  The Winter season crowned champions across eight Winnipeg High School Football League (WHSFL) divisions, three flag divisions, three coed divisions, and twenty-two divisions of touch football.

Contact us to start your dynasty! The PIT Football league has a division for all skill levels.

WHSFL Division 1

Dakota Lancers 41 Miles Mac Buckeyes 23

The Dakota Lancers are winning on both the tackle and the flag football fields.

Dakota captured their first D1 title, defeating a Miles Mac team that knocked off some of the top programs in the province to make it to their first title game. Both teams have players on the U18 provincial flag teams, both have coaches who have played or coached at the highest levels of flag in the province.

Brady Templeton and Hudson Cvetkovic both scored two touchdowns for the Lancers, while Charlie Cockriell replied for the Buckeyes with the same stat line.

Congratulations on the Lancers on their first D1 flag football championship and to coach Raza Butt who has had quite the year of coaching, winning a WHSFL tackle title, a PIT Football flag title, and a national championship, (and a hockey fantasy league) in the span of nine months!

WHSFL Division 2

Dakota Lancers 37 Steinbach Sabres 8

The Dakota program is currently so strong that the Lancers take home both D1 and D2 — the first time this has happened since the Vincent Massey Trojans swept the top two divisions in 2022.

Reid Monkman and Peytn Clarke, both U18 Provincial flag team members, scored twice for the Lancers, with Connor “Gronk” Plante throwing for four touchdowns.

The Steinbach Sabres offence, despite being one of the best during the regular season, was stymied in the championship. Angelo Stoyanov hit Owen Medeiros for Steinbach’s lone score, but that wasn’t enough as the Lancer’s defence was about to out-duel the Sabres.

WHSFL Division 3

Tec Voc Hornets 25 Sisler Spartans 16

The Hornets won their second consecutive WHSFL flag football title, defeating their long-time rivals from Sisler in the title game.

Logan Corpuz was named the MVP for the Hornets after his two-touchdown performance, while Jayvin Jaradal replied with 13 points to take home MVP honours for the Spartans.

Congratulations to coach Ryan Karhut who has had quite the twelve months. Ryan helped resurrect the Tec Voc football program, led them to the WHSFL Currie Bowl championship, a PIT Football flag championship, and was named the Frank Bryan Memorial Coach of the Year.

WHSFL Football Division 4

Churchill Bulldogs 18 Maples Marauders 8

The Churchill Bulldogs won their first WHSFL flag title, besting their crosstown rivals to raise the trophy.

The Marauders came into the game with the best defence in the league, and they were able to limit Kaden Hampton, one of the top young quarterbacks in the province, to just three touchdown passes. However, the Bulldogs defence showed they can ball, registering three interceptions, two by Storm Jackson, to keep the Maples offence from marauding in the end zone.

If you are a fan of defensive football, this was the high school game to watch!

WHSFL Division JV1

Dakota Lancers 61 Dakota Lancers 8

More evidence that Dakota might be on another level as both school JV teams made it to the championship final. This set the stage for a very interesting intra-campus matchup for school bragging rights.  Unfortunately for the Lancers, the Lancers took it to them!  U18 provincial flag team member Declan Mielke threw six touchdown passes to lead his team to victory over their cross-the-hall compatriots.  Three of those passes each went Darious Sapong-Rean and Abraham Ogunfolaji.  Easy work for Declan who also set the league touchdown pass record with 38 in just five regular season games.  Tough to beat a team that averaged a high school record 65 points per game!

WHSFL Division JV2

Grant Park Pirates 21 Kildonan East Reivers 7

Grant Park walks away with their fourth flag football title in their storied school history, defeating Kildonan East with a stellar defensive game plan.

The Grant Park defence combined for four interceptions, two plundered by Trey Mabunga. Trey added two scores to lead the Pirates to championship treasure and the most valuable player award.

Luke Heinrichs had himself a day for the Reivers, setting a JV championship game record with four interceptions. However, it was not enough as the Reivers were forced to walk the plank while the Pirates sailed away with the gold.

WHSFL Seniors

Kelvin Clippers 52 Kildonan East Reivers 19

The Kelvin Clippers won the inaugural season of the WHSFL Seniors Division with a near-perfect game against the Reivers from Kildonan East.

Greyson Crackel threw eight touchdown passes, four to game MVP Taylor Trosky. Joshua Gudmundson took over the quarterback spot for the Reivers and threw three second half touchdowns, two to Rubin Ortiz as the Reivers tried to battle back from a big first half deficit.

The Clippers ended the comeback with a head-top touchdown catch by Bezh Kinew. This Clippers team captured their second consecutive title, having won the D1 championship in the previous season.

WHSFL Girls

Kelvin Clippers 31 Dakota Lancers 27

The Kelvin Clippers prevented the Dakota Lancers sweep by giving the Dakota girls team their only losses, once during the regular season and once during the finals.

Nancy Naef quarterbacked the Clippers to victory, with leading scorers Chryssa Scaramuzzi and Taylor Walters leading the offence. Ember Gregoire, Neev Muller, and Taryn Znidarec all had two interceptions on the season to anchor the Clippers defence, while Chloe Kim led the team in sacks.

The Clippers were one of the youngest teams in the WHSFL division. With another year under their belt, they should be installed as the early favorites for the next flag season!

CO-ED Division 1

Rosé All Day 44 Kinda Athletic 18

The rookies from wine country take home the D1 coed championship in their inaugural season.

Led by national flag team prospect Dom Horvath, who threw for six touchdown passes, the vino drinkers avenged their regular season loss to Kinda Athletic in a big way. Brook Crawford and Jen Horvath cultivated the vineyard with two touchdowns catches each.

Former collegiate flag player Ashten Vankoughnett replied with a touchdown for Kinda Athletic but it wasn’t enough to end the vinification process from the vin ordinaire.

COED Division 2

Weam 37 Squibs 34

Coed D2 might have been the best division during the winter season, with all six teams finishing the season with identical records!

Once the playoff smoke cleared, Weam was left standing to capture their second coed championship. Led by the 13 points of Denice Linag, Weam defeated the U18 girls’ provincial team in a fantastic game that came down to the wire.

Aubrey Smith led the Squibs with 19 points, while game MVP Callie Pinkerton added fourteen points of her own. Watch out for this Squibs team as they set their sights on winning only the second gold medal for Manitoba in the u18 girl’s division at flag nationals.

Flag Football Division 1

Peg City Flag 38 Winnipeg Rebellion 37

In the flag game of the night, Peg City defeated Rebellion on the final play of the game to claim their second straight flag football championship.

Rebellion was the favourite coming into this game, having gone undefeated in the regular season and defeating Peg City with relative ease in their matchup early in the season.

Rebellion looked to cap off the season as champs scoring the go-ahead touchdown with only about a minute remaining. A long pass to CJ Powell brought Peg City to the one-yard line on the final play. CJ was also targeted for the game winner to claim the championship, the game MVP, and Rebellion’s undefeated season.

Flag Football Division 2

Swarm 28 Unflaggables 26

Much like the D1 flag game, Swarm and Unflaggables came down to the final play, this time in overtime!

Multiple lead changes were exchanged throughout the match with Swarm tying the game up late. Cue up overtime, where Swarm, and former league MVP, JJ Mikolash was pressed into defence. JJ made a couple of stops on the defensive side and then hit Josh Robinson for the game winner. Josh made one of the best catches of the season, hauling in the championship match point with a contested one-handed catch while toe-tapping out of bounds.

A fitting end to another incredible flag game.

Flag Football Division 3

South Bay 52 Showstoppers 12

South Bay wasn’t going make it three consecutive flag games ending in suspense.

Kidus Michael, a provincial U19 stalwart, scored three touchdowns for South Bay. The Showstoppers Nick Baranyk, who set a flag record with 11 interceptions during the regular season, was not available for the championship game. The lack of a safety presence helped fuel the onslaught by the youngest team in the division.

Many of the South Bay players will represent Team Manitoba at the U18 and U19 national flag football championships. The team will continue to tune their game in the Spring season in preparation for nattys.

Touch Football Division 1

Dirty Dancin’ 45 Greendell Smallcons 18

The Rebellion take over! Four D1 teams, four teams drafted for the Rebellion. Four teams within two points of each other for top spot in the division.

While games throughout the season were closely contested, Dirty Dancin’ tap danced on the Smallcons defense to the tune of 45 points, twenty by Connor Machum and another 18 by Josh Claeys in the finals.  Add in Derek Trager’s MVP performance with three takeaways on defense, this game was out of reach early.  Nobody puts Danny Harris in a corner!

Touch Football Division 2

Seafood City 39 Sock Puppets 29

Seafood City restocked the shelves after their best buy date expired in their flag season.

Seafood City took on the reigning champions from the Winter season armed with multiple D1 additions and the PIT curse. For those unfamiliar with the curse, it is eerily like the voodoo that befalls the President’s trophy winner. The top teams in the league are rarely left standing holding championship hardware…especially if those teams are undefeated.

The Sock Puppets fried Seafood during the regular season 59-13, however, the curse only comes into effect in a championship game.  Thirty-two points by U.S. college standout Ethan Schnerch, including a Hail Mary at the end of the half, meant there would be no championship for Mr. Socko, and the football Gods who enacted the curse would be appeased.

Touch Football Division 3

Polk High 33 Peg City Pipeline 12

Polk High laid the pipe to Peg City.

Brock Greaves and Cam Penner put up identical 13-point, one interception stats for Polk High. Not quite Al Bundy numbers, but enough to turn the pipeline off and prevent Peg City from becoming only the fourth team to win a flag and touch championship on the same night.

Touch Football Division 4

Homer Hawks 33 Andriys Dream Team 24

This was a masterpiece of a game between the two top teams in the division, and two of the best up and coming teams in the league.The Dream Team had defeated the Homers in overtime during the regular season. The Hawks achieved a different outcome in the final, in large part due to former provincial flag national champion and current Manitoba Bison Liam Hutter’s three interceptions and two touchdown receptions.

In fact, the nuclear plant workers combined for seven interceptions to help meltdown the dreamer’s offence and put a trophy on the Simpson’s mantle.

Touch Football Division 5

Trailer Park Boyz 32 Big Baller Brand 27

The student surpasses the teacher.

Quarterback phenom and former provincial flag player Jordan Hanslip threw the lights out against his coach to pull the upset, prevent Triple B from their undefeated season, and provide more evidence that the top dawgs are cursed.

Hanslip threw five touchdown passes, four to game MVP Darien Medwick. Darien was unstoppable at wide out, catching the game winner with just over a minute to play.

BBB had a chance to win it, driving the length of the field to have a shot.  That shot fell short when Nick Gilberto held the goal line to make an incredible one-handed interception.

The residents from Sunnyvale captured their second championship at the expense of LaVar corp.

Touch Football Division 6

Gotham Knights Legends 33 Turf Dawgs 13

The bat signal was raised, and the dark knights came ready to take flight.

Five different caped crusaders scored for the protectors of Gotham, proving the multiverse in theory is real, while in practice is just lazy writing on the part of Marvel and DC.

Gotham won their second consecutive title as the Batmen add to their legend. Keep an eye out (sonar?) for the Turf Dawgs. This team is very talented and have a great young quarterback manning the helm. Give them a couple of years of experience and it won’t be surprising to see the Turf Dawgs be the Top Dawgs.

Touch Football Division 7

North Bay 33 Past Our Bedtimes 7

The North Bay franchise, which spans touch, flag, and women’s football will hang their 20th championship banner in the rafters, putting them in with some very elite company on the list of Manitoba’s all-time winningest teams.

Past Our Bedtimes started the game quickly, jumping out to a 7-0 lead. Shortly thereafter, Lachlan Reid, a defensive savant, created a no-fly zone, picking off two passes and breaking up multiple more en route to the game MVP.

Zach Regert and Matt Duncan both pulled in two touchdowns, as team manager Raza Butt and North Bay mayor Peter Chirico planned the parade route down highway 11.

Touch Football Division 8

Bald and the Beautiful 39 God Hates Jags 26

A lot of similarities among these teams. Both knocked off the top seeds to punch their ticket to the championship game; both teams had significant veteran talent; both teams were without their starting quarterbacks for their finals tilt.

Those that took the over made some bank as the teams still combined for 65 points!

Both backup quarterbacks were their respective team MVPs. It was a cotillion for Evan Bach who scored 13 points for the double Bs.While the almighty one may have forsaken the bald, the evidence is piling up that the football Gods truly hate the Jags.

Touch Football Division 9

Avengers 44 McChucken 39

Who says the Avengers franchise is dead?

Sure, since Endgame, the superhero team has had to endure Dr. Strange, the Marvels, the Eternals, Captain America Brave New World, Shang-Chi, She-Hulk, Echo, Loki, Ms. Marvel, Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Iron Fist, Agatha All-Along, and countless other dreck.

However, the PIT Football Avengers continue to build a solid legacy, winning yet another title over the McChuckens. While it is McChucken who has the best cosplay in the league, their homage to the mighty farm fowl couldn’t defeat the originals of the Marvel cinematic universe.

Here is to hoping the Avengers Doomsday film can reboot the franchise to the levels of these touch football champions.

Touch Football Division 10

Bleue’s Clueless 29 Down 2 Football 13

Down 2 Football meet the curse of the undefeated.

DTF had the top offence in the division, the top defence in the division, hadn’t lost a game, and were double-digit favourites to win the championship.

Not since Literary Digest predicted Alf Landon to win the Presidency had the prognosticators been so wrong!

Voodoo. Jinx. Malediction. Hex. Pox. Whammy. Maybe its just the pressure of the perfect season. Call it what you want, teams that go undefeated have a very poor track record of winning the ‘ship.

Bleue’s QB Steven Bleue threw three touchdowns, two to Brock Wittevrongel to ensure DTF was not down to DTF.

Touch Football Division 11

Cannonball 37 Football is Fun 32

Curse? Never heard of it. Cannonball blasted out of the gates early and brought down the house on an undefeated season.

Football is Fun is the sister team to Bleue’s Clueless, but unlike the unmindful ones, the Fun lovers couldn’t top the team that had a plus/minus in the three digits on the positive side of the ledger.

Veteran slinger Todd Hersak threw six touchdowns to cap one of the best seasons in his storied career. Rob Noel and Bryce LeBlanc both scored twice for the cannons.

Football is Fun stood their ground but ultimately became cannon fodder to the relentless onslaught of the Hersak captained offensive.

Touch Football Division 12

Sideline Savants 47 North Bay Nation 27

North Bay Nation put up more points against the Savants than at any point in the season, but that still wasn’t enough to stop them from their second consecutive championship.

Jumping three divisions of skill didn’t slow the Savants as they will continue their upwards trajectory in the league. The Solypa bros racked up six touchdown passes and twenty points for the Savants, while all-world player Bryce McDonald moved from center to the quarterback spot and threw four touchdown passes for the Nation.

North Bay had their hopes of a 21^st championship dashed, just like their hopes of a homecoming at the Heritage Railway and Carousel Company.

 Touch Football Division 13

Peter’s Griffin 28 The Northern 27

The Northern were playing in just their third season. The Northern were also attempting to become the first team in PIT history to win three straight championships to start a franchise!

However, the Northern had never experienced an undefeated season previously and thus were unfamiliar with the curse. Despite overtime being on Peter’s Grind my Gears list, Peter’s Griffin was able to pull the upset and prevent the Northern from making history.

Birds the word.

Touch Football Division 14

Young Guns 47 Venum 35

This former top Football Manitoba flag team took Division 14 by storm, winning a touch championship in their rookie season.

U19 Provincial team quarterback Max Funk set a D14 record with 31 touchdown passes. Max continued his dominance throwing for 15 more in the Young Guns two playoff games.

Venum channelled their inner Dr. Rockso, forgetting they could drop safeties back to help stop the onslaught. Both teams lit the scoreboard up, but the Young Guns made a statement: Venum let there be Carnage.

Touch Football Division 15

Honeysuckle Football Boys 25 Post Dig Picks Route 7

The Honeysuckles secured their second championship in franchise history, defeating the battle tested Post Dig Picks Route.

The sucklers of ambrosia defense combined for three interceptions and two sacks to keep the normally high-powered offence of PDPR in check.  Team captain Jarret Hamm scored twice and added an interception to secure victory for his team and MVP honours.

The gang from PDPR will have to spend the offseason finding answers to questions such as “What’s your spaghetti policy?”, “How much cheese is too much cheese?”, and why “Bird law in this country is not governed by reason.”

Touch Football Division 16

Coors Country 26 We Hate Nagel Cause He’s Mean and a Dictator 12

Maybe WHNCHMAAD needs to reinstall Nagel as their team despot, losing in the final to Coors country without their usual authoritarian leadership.

Coors country was cracking cold ones following this game, due in large part to Brice Bayisabe’s stat line of six points, one interception, and one touchdown pass, and narrowly missing out on the statistical cycle.

Chris Skitteral tried to keep the tyrants at bay, throwing for two touchdowns, but he could not stop his monocrat’s fall to the democratically elected country of Coors…which will soon have their rocky mountain spring water tariffed into oblivion.

Touch Football Division 17

Deadbeets 19 Cleveleand Steamers 14

The vegetables from Vincent Massey won their first touch championship, preventing the Steamers from hoisting their second consecutive title.

The tubers won their regular season tilt and were able to avoid the steamer in the final due in large part to Brayden Saville and Liam Casey posting identical stat lines of a touchdown and an interception.

Gerad Mousseau demonstrated he should get the start over Deshaun Watson in Cleveland, garnering MVP honours for his one TD pass, one convert, and one running touchdown in defeat.

Touch Football Division 18

WFS 13 Everdeadly 12

WFS won their first championship in the PIT, doing so in the slimmest of margins!

Both teams tied for first in the regular season, with WFS winning the tiebreaker due to their head-to-head victory. The Everdeadly’s couldn’t avenge their loss despite two interceptions by David Smith and two touchdown passes by former Kitchener Stampeder Brennan Davis.

WFS quarterback Chase Garland also threw two touchdown passes, including the game winner to the division’s leading scorer Dominik Skorupski. Yet another rookie team heading home with some hardware in their inaugural season.

Touch Football Division 19

Labatt Bears 32 Bachynski Bra Barn 7

Not only is this the first championship for the Bears, but it was also the first time they made the playoffs.

The Bears capped off the perfect season in style over the Triple Bs. Fun fact: Bra makers at Playtex came up with the design for the Apollo 11 spacesuits. Fun fact: The Bachynski Bra Barn apparently fired themselves into space using the Apollo 11 rocket to avoid playing defence against the Bears.

The Labatt drinkers outscored the Bra Barn team 76-26 in their two meetings, with Riley Smith accounting for 50 of those points by himself!

Touch Football Division 20

Hit and Ruggs 25 Walk-Off Flockas 6

Hit and Ruggs saved their best two games for the playoffs, knocking off both the top two seeds in the division while surrendering just 19 total points.

In the championship game, Vikram Warha and Johnny Paquette had six of the seven Rugg’s interceptions. Marc St. Mars kicked off the scoring for the Flockas who had the Ruggs pulled out from underneath them, when they were hit with 19 unanswered points in the second half.

Hit and Ruggs are now driving the short bus in the Spring season as they try to make it two in a row.

Touch Football Division 21

Chill Guys 44 Always Injured 26

The Chill guys get their redemption, knocking off Always Injured, the top-seed in D21, and avenging their only regular season loss.

The Chillers only roster six players, the league minimum, an interesting strategy that paid off well as all six of these guys can ball!  Always Injured made the transition from the Marauders flag team to touch football and showed they will be a team to be reckoned with in the future.

The Chill Guys look to take their sparse roster into the Spring season in a chase for their second title in as many seasons.

Redemption Bowl

Wheeling Hamoods Football 18 Sideline Menaces 6

The Wheeling Hamoods made their jump from the Football Manitoba Flag league to Canada’s largest touch football league, capping their rookie season off with a redemption bowl victory over the Sideline dwellers.

Ari Sanmuganathan wheeled the Hamoods to victory, throwing for three touchdowns on offence and securing two interceptions of defence. Kian Ruiter menaced Ari all day, sacking the quarterback on three occasions.  It wasn’t enough however as the Hamoods inscribe their name on the championship trophy for the first time.

Winter Most Valuable Player (MVP)

Riley Harrison

Congratulations to Riley Harrison, our 2025 Winter Most Valuable Player award winner.

Riley played 10 games in the winter season and was voted by his peers as the MVP on eight occasions. An 80% MVP rate is just incredible and the highest of any MVP in league history.

Riley split his season playing in both the flag and touch divisions. You may also recognize him as one of our best up and coming head officials.  For his efforts, Riley received a prize package from our league sponsors, including the PIT Football MVP belt and a Blue Bomber prize package. Congratulations to our newest MVP on his amazing season. If you want to try to best Riley in the summer season, be sure to get yourself registered!

Winter Most Sportsmanlike Player (MSP)

TJ Sarmiento

Our second winner of the Dr. Kanwal Saran Most Sportsmanlike player award deservedly goes to TJ Sarmiento, team captain of Young Wild and Free and Mean Girls.

TJ started his career in the league in 2017 and has been one of our favourite players since.  Mean Girls and YWaF are two of the most virtuous teams in the league and it all starts with their team captain TJ.

YWaF have won two PIT Football championships. The Mean Girls continue to search for their first coed title, but they may be the team that has the most fun in the division! Just like our MVP selections, the MSP is selected after each game by your peers, and TJ received the most votes.  TJ received a prize package from PURE Lifestyle and Wellness and the PIT Football league.

The PIT Football league is the official touch and flag football league of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.  The league thanks the Winnipeg Football Club for all their support of football initiatives in the province. If you want to join a team, or have an existing team, check out www.pitfootball.com for more information.  Registration for our summer season is ongoing and ends Monday May 12^th.  Touch, flag, coed, and free agent teams are available.  All skill levels welcome!  Be sure to follow us @PITFootball on Instagram to keep up to date with all things football in Manitoba!