The Central Cyclones will be on the redemption path during the upcoming Moose Jaw High School Football season.  The team will be led by astonishing 18 Grade 12s as they look to get back to the League finals.

"A lot of kids worked hard over the summer, it was very evident once fall camp started with just the pure size of the kids.  A lot of kids are stepping up, we graduated some quality kids last year and we have kids to fill in those roles already," said head coach Colin Belsher this week as the team gets ready for their season opener coming up on Saturday.

The Cyclones are coming off a 2011 season that saw them go 4-2 and make it all the way to the City Finals before losing to the Vanier Vikings -- in fact all three losses from Central last season came at the hands of the Vikings.

With Vanier losing many of their stars from last season, Central is looking poised to make a run at the title this season, but Belsher stopped short of calling them the favourites though.

"High school football is one of those things where you need to avoid injuries and we have those two new teams coming into the league, we don't really know a whole lot about them outside of exhibition games, so we'll play it one game at a time and hopefully things fall into the right position."

Central will have starting quarterback Bren Forbes back for his senior season after he led the league in passing last year with 1,058 yards.  Belsher says Forbes will be leaned on this season, "In my opinion, he's the best quarterback in the league and he's our only four-year player, so we're really going to lean on him to show leadership and perform on the field."

Forbes will have help on offence with receiver Jacob Labocetta returning.  Labocetta finished last year with 15 catches for 222 yards, good enough for fourth in the league.  

"We have a great o-line with a lot of returning guys; we have returning receivers; we have a rookie running back, but he's looking good out there too, so we should be balanced and something for teams to look out for," said Forbes.

A big luxury for the offence heading into the season is this will be their second season under the command of offensive coordinator Matt Dominguez.  Belsher says he sees his squad becoming more comfortable with what the former Saskatchewan Roughrider is trying to do.

"They're picking up really quick because they're use to the way he talks, they're used to his terms and his information that he brings," explained Belsher.  "The older guys are now teaching the younger guys as they come up and I think that's just a product of the way he's treating these kids and how quickly they can pick things up.

Forbes says Dominguez brings a lot to the table for their team, "With someone with the experience of Matt it definitely helps me and I've learnt so much and I'm a lot more confident on the field because of the knowledge that he's brought."

On the defensive side of the ball, it will be a much younger group after they graduated some key leaders, like linebacker Brayden Mackey.  Senior linebacker Carson Dougall says you can expect a hard working group on the defence, "We're going to mix it up a lot and just keep going and hopefully it will work.

"I'm really excited for the first game, I think it's going to be a great year."

Central will kick off their 2012 campaign against the Swift Current Colts at Gutheridge Field.  They will be the early game of the doubleheader with kick off at 1:00pm.  Vanier takes on Yorkton in the late game at 3:15pm.

Marc Smith speaks with Central head coach Colin Belsher about the upcoming season.

QB Bren Forbes

LB Carson Dougall

HS Football Preview:
Big Changes To MJHSFL
SC Colts Improving
Coaching Change In Estevan
Fresh Start For Weyburn
Peacock Aiming High