The Steinbach Regional Secondary School will begin the 2017 Winnipeg High School Football League season next Friday.

"Camp has been really exciting," said SRSS varsity head coach Jamie Peters. "We've been rolling out both teams during the last two weeks of summer holidays with about 40 coaches and 65-70 kids participating and working hard and going through the grind preparing for the season. It was pretty cool to see the JV progam come to fruition which is going to set this football program up for a lot of success in the future."

The Sabres played their lone exhibition game Thursday in Winnipeg against the Sturgeon Heights Huskies.

"We competed and we played well," said Peters. "We got better and we improved but we definitely made some mistakes. We didn't play the way we wanted. I think it's a good learning experience that the boys can take heading into the long weekend as we prepare for Dakota to open up the season."

The Sabres dropped a 32-1 decision to the Huskies and coach Peters says his football team has some work to do before the team plays it's first ever game in the WHSFL's Potter Division.

"With the nature of stepping up into the top division and playing the top 10 teams in the province, our boys just have to rise to that challenge on a weekly basis. We've got to understand that there's going to be little room for error, there needs to be a bit more focus and we need to be ready to play right off the hop. We got to bring that compete and that physicality for a full 48 minutes. We weren't quite locked in and zoned in Thursday. Hopefully we can get that corrected for week one."

The SRSS Junior Varsity football team will play its preseason game Wednesday, September 5th against the Grant Park Pirates at A.D. Penner Park in Steinbach.

"I'm very excited to watch the JV squad go," said Peters. "That team is being headed up by Kerry Friesen and Derek Plett. Those are guys that played for me on my first ever football team. It's just cool to see the growth that those guys have had in seven years and they got a bunch of other alumni helping them coach."

"They got a young staff that are super excited and energetic and the kids are excited and energetic. Their practices have been upbeat and a lot of fun. I know they're really itching to get out there and play a game. It's pretty cool that it's going to kick off on Wednesday and then their league starts on September 13th. There's a lot of exciting things happening around Sabres football."