Mike Thomas is redefining aerial football.
Thomas, Football Saskatchewan’s director of operations, landed at Regina International Airport around mid-afternoon on Saturday — just in time to head to Leibel Field, watch the championship game of the U16 Western Regional Challenge, and return to the terminal for an evening takeoff.
“This is the time of year when it gets really busy, but I love it,” Thomas said between flights.
Thomas had just returned from Charlotte, N.C., where he was one of three Team Canada coaches at USA Football’s Junior International Cup — an international flag football competition.
Along with Blaine Duffield and Craig Zimmer, Thomas coached an all-Regina under-15 girls team that qualified to compete in Charlotte by virtue of having won the Western Canadian title last year in Winnipeg.
Olivia Adam, Sarah Cameron, Kai-Lynn Clive, Lily Duffield, Nola Exner, Grayce Pokoyoway, Avery Struch, Tyia Thomas, Jael Wells and Jade Zimmer proudly carried Canada’s colours Wednesday, Thursday and Friday on the University of North Carolina at Charlotte campus.
“We’re just so blessed that we had the opportunity,” said Wells, whose mother Angela chaperoned Team Canada. “We were just a small group of girls from Saskatchewan competing against teams from around the world.”
Over a jam-packed three days, Canada played against two teams from Mexico and single entries from Japan, Panama and the United States.
“We were the only team that drew from one area — a city of 280,000 people — as opposed to, say, 300-some million in the United States,” Thomas said with a chuckle, noting that the other teams typically held tryouts that incorporated prospective players from multiple regions.
“Our girls were never outmatched and we were never out-athleted. The United States team had a one-hour film session after we played them that was strictly based on what we did against them. We gave them a scare that nobody else did.”
The United States went undefeated en route to winning the under-15 girls division. There was also competition in the under-15 boys, under-17 girls and under-17 boys categories.
“You could really see the camaraderie and friendship emerging,” Thomas said. “It was also a chance for our team to play at the highest level of flag football in the world in their age group.”
Canada also ended the tournament on a high, defeating Mexico AFANL 24-19 on the final day to put a “1” in the victory column. Wells, with three touchdowns, and Clive reached the end zone for Canada.
“The best part was interacting with all the girls from the other teams,” Wells said. “Even though there was sometimes a language barrier, we still found a way to connect.”
So did Thomas, who had to make various airline connections on Saturday.
He landed in Regina just in time to catch the gold-medal game at a Football Canada under-16 event. Saskatchewan blanked B.C. 34-0 in the Western Regional Challenge final to engineer a three-peat, following up on the first-place showings of 2019 and 2021.
Corbyn Thompson threw two TD passes to Keaton Belsher, who had nine receptions for 167 yards. Samuel Trent Lafreniere added two TD runs for Saskatchewan, which got 89 rushing yards and one score from Marcus Adams. (Scroll down for the complete Saskatchewan roster.)
Having witnessed the whitewash of B.C., Thomas soon returned to the airport and boarded a flight to Edmonton — where the Football Canada Cup began on Sunday.
Saskatchewan’s under-18 boys team is aiming for its fourth consecutive Football Canada Cup title. After winning it all in 2018 and 2019, Saskatchewan followed up with a post-pandemic gold-medal effort in 2022.
Thomas is the general manager of Team Saskatchewan at the Edmonton-based national event.
FOOTBALL CANADA CUP
TEAM SASKATCHEWAN ROSTER
PLAYERS
From Regina: DB Jackson Ashman; REC Eythan Crites; DL Noah Douhaniuk; REC Ty Fedak-Andrews; LB Jacob Goldstone; LB Liam LaBelle; REC Blake Laidlaw; LB Chase MacAulay; LB Matthew MacAulay; OL Kyle Magnien; RB Owen Mazur; LB Luke McKenzie; DL Dylan Paskiw; DB Liam Platt; OL Tristen Rapchalk; DB Spencer Remple; DB Jaik Reich; OL Emmett Reinhardt; DL Liam Tighe; DB Ajay Ward; LB Owen Zimmer.
Saskatoon: OL Tazen Angelstad; REC Brady Blackburn; QB Carter Casey; OL Dylan Friedrich; REC Mason Grabowski; RB Aulain Penner; DL Lucian Verity.
Martensville: REC Jared Festus-Julian; DB Aidan Low.
Emerald Park: OL Wylie Brogden.
Herschel: DB Jacob Fehr.
La Ronge: REC Tyrell Mohr.
Lebret: DB Jake Mayo.
Moose Jaw: RB Javin Boynton.
North Battleford: DL Max Gubbe.
Richardson: LB Nitro-Ice Hanna.
Weyburn: QB Conner Kerr.
White City: OL Nathan Boyd.
Yorkton: DL Hayden Russell.
SUPPORT STAFF
Head coach: Dwayne Masson.
Assistant coaches: Chris Ashman; Cody Halseth; Paul Harasen; Riley Hobbins; Travis Serke; Kyle Stroeder; Carter Stusek.
Mentor coach: Joey Todd.
General manager: Mike Thomas.
Athletic therapist: Michelle Keen.
Equipment manager: Logan Kardash.
FOOTBALL CANADA WESTERN REGIONAL CHALLENGE
TEAM SASKATCHEWAN ROSTER
PLAYERS
From Regina: RB Marcus Adams; REC Austin Barton; LB Jack Baer; OL Alex Bodnar; DL Xavier Camacho; LB Noah Digney; DB Noah Finkeldey; OL Jackson Gelinas; REC Tobi Kukura; RB Jack Lawrence; RB Marek Lloyd; DB Dawson Moffat; REC Daniel Potgieter; OL Benjamin Ridgway; DL Colton Shaw; REC Haydn Stewart; QB Corbyn Thompson.
Saskatoon: REC Ben Blackburn; LB Xavier Conley; DB Samuel Dean; DL Aleksey Gordon; LB Ryker Hanson; DB Mclaren Hein; RB Samuel Trent Lafreniere; DL Harrison Rousseau; OL Matthew Saul; DL Owen Topping; LB Traven Wiggins.
Moose Jaw: REC Keaton Belsher; DL Kash Ferster; DB Dax Gibney; REC Gabe Yasinski.
Melfort: OL Jackson Baptist; OL Cole Rogers.
Aberdeen: QB Sam Bazarkiewicz.
Balgonie: DB Nathan Butz.
Martensville: DL Wyley Loewen.
Prince Albert: DB Miller Childress.
Regina Beach: OL Nathan Nickolson.
White City: DB Carver MacLennan.
SUPPORT STAFF
Head coach: David Rogers.
Assistant coaches: Bryan Boys; Devon Gilkinson; Jorod Koroll; Jaeden Marwick; Matt Pfeifer; Davin Williamson.
Mentor coach: Kirk Morrow.
General manager: Brenden Bennett.
Equipment manager: Heather Bury.
