'The standard': A recap of Manitoba U19's flag national title

In mid-May, Team Manitoba’s U19 elite flag squad brought home national gold, knocking off Nova Scotia 37-8 in the finals, hosted in Kingston, ON.

Offensively, ‘Toba scored 265 points, losing just one game, while their defence surrendered just 28 points over their last three contests.

It was a complete team effort from a tight-knit group with tons of experience. Eight of the ten roster members played alongside each other during last year’s U18 tournament, while six of the ten competed against each other in the ANAVETS Bowl last season for either Oak Park or Dakota.

On the coaching staff, Manitoba was loaded with some of the best Canadian minds in the game. Jon Franklin earned his fifth gold medal as a coach, while Raza Butt took home his third. Neil Gwizon added his second, while Riley Hanssen won his first as coach, and third total.

“Most of the guys on the team we’ve known for a while, growing up with them or playing on Team Manitoba with them over the years. We all knew how each other played, so it was easy to play around that. It helped a lot of us out,” said quarterback Declan Mielke, the tournament MVP out of Dakota who threw for 1,794 yards and 35 touchdowns in seven contests.

“We’ve had a lot of really great players come through this program. I think it’s great to represent Manitoba, and to come out with a medal. I feel like that’s the standard. To add to that collection is just awesome.”

Declan Mielke delivers a dot.

Two big tests

Day one offered up the two biggest tests Manitoba would get all tournament.

Game one was an absolute barn-burner, with the boys from the 204 coming back from 40-28 down in the second half to defeat Ontario, 41-40.

Mielke threw for 311 yards and six scores, with Brody Kwiatek – who played quarterback for Miles Mac during the WHSFL season – catching the game-winner from 15 yards out. Kwiatek finished the contest with ten receptions for 135 yards and four scores.

Defensively, Kelvin grad Trey Robertson called game with an interception on the final Ontario drive, while Manitoba Bisons commit Alex Klenk also had a pick.

“When we were down against Ontario, I felt like the guys were playing too tight. I told them the script can flip fast in flag, and to trust each other,” said Butt.

“I talked to Declan, and told him to take it one play at a time, and to trust his boys and the defence would have his back. He went on to shred Ontario’s D. Defensively, the guys were aggressive and made plays. Alex Klenk, Amyas Furst and Peytn Clarke were absolutely lock-down the rest of the way and Reid Monkman was a juggernaut blitzer. Then Trey called game with an incredible interception in the endzone.”

Manitoba’s only loss occurred in game two against Nova Scotia, who they would meet again in the final. In the 32-20 result, Mielke threw for 248 yards and three scores, with five different players recording a grab.

The game served as motivation the rest of the way for ‘Toba, who refused to be out-worked moving forward.

“After we lost that game, we had a bad taste in our mouth. We watched film that night and realized that all of the mistakes we made were because of us. Playing the second game [against Nova Scotia], it was revenge,” recalled Furst, an ANAVETS Bowl champ with Oak Park who’s committed to play for Western next season as a defensive back.

“We lost to them last year in the finals, so we knew we had to win. We had to show them what we were made of.”

Amyas Furst in coverage against Nova Scotia.

‘We’re going to beat you with our minds’

Manitoba went undefeated for the remainder of the tournament, with victories of 44-40 and 28-13 over Quebec, 51-32 and 45-7 over Alberta, and 37-8 against Nova Scotia in a rematch in the gold medal game.

Mielke threw an absolute dot to Kwiatek on a corner-post-corner early in the finals, and it was clear sailing for Manitoba from there. Furst put the hammer in the coffin shortly after with an endzone interception with his side up two scores.

“The round robin game against Nova Scotia was just kind of a fluke. They scored on the first play of the game and it kind of set us down,” noted Mielke.

“The second time we played them, we knew what they were going to do, and the defence just locked them down.”

“We’re not the biggest, we’re not the fastest, but we’re going to beat you with our minds,” added Furst.

“We’re going to beat you with all the things we know, all the things our coaches taught us.”

Manitoba celebrates after winning gold.

‘We just wanted it more than anyone else’

Manitoba’s depth, talent and preparation shone throughout the tournament.

Offensively, Mielke threw at least four touchdown passes to every receiver, which included Kwiatek (605 yards, 13 scores), fellow Dakota pivot Khaleel Hosein (322 yards, eight scores), Ethan Funk (420 yards, four scores) and Evan Bach (352 yards, nine scores).

“All of our receivers were doing what had to be done,” noted Mielke, a two-time provincial champ in JV who’s received tutelage from a variety of coaches including Barry Berard, Drew Oleksewycz and Aaron Giesbrecht.

“I was throwing to Khaleel on the right side, he was getting open over there sneaking behind guys on go routes. We had Evan in the slot, he was cooking guys on double routes and triple routes. Then we had Ethan Funk at centre. He could come down with any catch. Brody, he was going crazy all tournament. He had so many touchdowns, he couldn’t drop the ball and no DB could guard him.”

Defensively, Furst and Lancers product Clarke led Manitoba with nine pass breakups, while fellow Lancer Klenk had a team-best five interceptions. Reid Monkman – another Lancer and Indigenous Cup provincial champion – had six sacks as a rusher.

“It all starts with our rusher Reid. He had a fantastic tournament. I don’t think he let the quarterback get to his second read a lot, so I was able to jump the plays a little bit more. I have to shout out the rest of the D as well, who locked their guys down and gave me the opportunity to get some picks and PBUs,” noted Furst, who’s been mentored by Recruit Ready coaches Boyd Barrett, Nic Demski, Dave Donaldson, Blair Atkinson, AK Gassama, Nick and Noah Hallett, Charlie Ringland and Markos Bockru, along with Oak Park coaches Rod Hill, Chris Ruiz and Chris Ollsen, among many others.

“The amount of preparation we did for this tournament was incredible. We had months and months of practices and film sessions and mental performance sessions. Our coaches stayed up plenty of hours during the tournament, after the long days, watching film, preparing us for the next day. Our preparation was there, we just wanted it more than anyone else.”