A picture taken during the Spartans' first practice of the season on Aug. 21, 2025. (Kenneth Cheung/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Kenneth Cheung

High School Football

Spartans fall to John Paul II, shifting focus to conditioning and tackling

Sep 13, 2025 | 6:13 PM

The Meadow Lake Spartans were overmatched in North Battleford in their second game of the new high school football season, falling 80–0 to the John Paul II Collegiate Crusaders on Sept. 11

Head coach Coleton Ethier said the score didn’t tell the full story.

“Despite the score being worse than last week, I do think we played better,” he said. “We were better on our assignments, and our substitutions were much cleaner.”

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Quarterback Kayl Solsten earned special praise. Ethier said Solsten ran hard behind an offensive line that struggled at times, picked up first downs and — most importantly — protected the football.

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“Didn’t turn the ball over this week, which is huge,” he added. “His effort was great, as was the rest of the team.”

Six minutes into the contest, a Spartan went down with a serious lower leg injury, stopping play for nearly an hour. Ethier admitted it rattled his team.

“They were checked out a little bit because they were worried about their teammate,” he said. “But then they brought their focus back and they played better again.”

During the game on Sept. 11 in North Battleford. The Crusaders, blue, and the Spartans. (John Paul II Collegiate/Facebook)

Moving forward

Ethier said the next week of practice will be about sharpening the team physically and mentally. He wants players to be better conditioned to handle the demands of a full game.

“I think we’re going to need to do a little bit more conditioning than we had in the past,” he said. “The kids looked pretty tired by the end of the game.”

He also pointed to tackling as an area needing attention.

“We had too many missed tackles, so we’re going to have to go back to tackling, tackling, tackling in practice,” Ethier said.

Despite two heavy losses to open the season, Ethier said the team’s spirit remains high.

“It’s all positive from the players still. They’re having fun. They’re excited to be out there,” he said.

The support in the stands hasn’t gone unnoticed either. Roughly 25 to 30 fans made the trip from Meadow Lake to cheer the Spartans on.

“They cheered hard through the whole game,” he recalled. “I just want to continue to thank the community for supporting us really well.”

“I think the community understands that this is a long process and that we’re not just going to instantly be a great football team overnight.”

The Spartans now turn their attention to Sept. 19, when they travel to Humboldt to face the Mohawks, a team Ethier called “significantly the best in our conference.”

“It’s going to be a great opportunity for the kids to go see what a great football team looks like and see the things that they have to do in order to be an elite high school football team,” he said.

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Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com