Opening day quickly coming

The minor football season kicks off this weekend with games in Summerside and Charlottetown.

The Summerside Clippers are back with head coach John Turner ready to defend their varsity title. The program has had a strong run for the past several years and will be difficult to knock off this coming season.

The Cornwall Timberwolves will provide a stiff competition led by Tyler Newsome and Parker Williams as well as several graduating bantam Wolves, who won the 2017 bantam title. Coaches Mark Green and Richard Lush will have their side ready to go.

The Charlottetown Privateers come back into the varsity league this fall and coach Scott MacEwen and staff will provide some strong leadership. Souris Wildcats round out the varsity group and the Wildcats are hoping players like William Drake will get their squad back into the Potato Bowl contention.

In the bantam league, the Cornwall Timberwolves will be looking to keep the Hilton Bowl in Cornwall. A strong numbers game should ensure the team to be a formidable group again.

The Summerside Spartans will be looking to get the title back. The Kings County Steelers and Privateers return as well to take a run at the Hilton Bowl.

This year the varsity league is a nine-man game and the bantam league is a six-man game, and the under-12 league is six-man football as well. Football P.E.I. said in a release the changes will help keep the programs in good numbers, as well as potentially add programs along the way. Sixman football is not new to P.E.I. as the provincial sport organization created the original bantam league with six-man ball and the provincial program won gold at the 2018 Atlantic bowl, which was a six-man game. Souris travels to Summerside on Friday for games at 6 p.m. (bantam) and 8 p.m. (varsity) while Charlottetown will host Cornwall Sunday for games at 1 and 3 p.m.