The Kincardine District Secondary School Knights will play their first regular season football game this afternoon, the result of a lot work from a devoted group of residents.
The Kincardine Football Association has been raising money in the community, running camps and launched a flag football, all leading up to today's kickoff.
Otis Dolan, one of the association's directors, says this afternoon's game has been a long time coming.
"It's feeling amazing to get to this point," he said. "We're returning to the Bluewater Athletic Association and it's hard to put into words, because it's over two years of work by a lot of people and a lot of support from the community to get to this point and it's finally here, it's finally a reality."
The school's inaugural football team did take on Bolton's Humberview Secondary School in an exhibition last week, a surprisingly competitive 39-25 loss for a group with almost no game experience.
Dolan noted that it helps that some players have a rugby background, as tackling and blocking are the most important aspects of high school football.
For the opener against the Owen Sound District Secondary School Wolves, he said coaches have simple goals for the team in the first game that counts in the standings.
"We've been preaching attitude and effort all year, because those are the only two things you can control in life," said Dolan, who is also the offensive coordinator. "Our coaching staff is good enough to fix any mistakes that we see, so we want them to go full speed, and make the mistakes, we don't want them to hesitate."
Regardless of the result, the game will be a celebration of football in Kincardine and all the support the association has received. Dolan highlighted work by association members Watson Morris, Dan Ogilvie, David Waite and Aaron Klassen and coaches Brandon Kushnir, Elliott Montag, Mark Billing, Shawn McDonald, Dave Hackney and Noel Greco as instrumental to bringing the team back.
He also thanked the school for its support and the generous donations by local businesses and groups, notably a major contribution from the local legion.
"It's just a full support from the community," he said. "It sounds like the community is going to be out in full force, I'm hoping attendance is going to be off the charts I guess you could say... and we have have the pipe band piping the kids out. It's going to be an experience."
The Knights take on the OSDS Wolves at Tiverton Field at 3 p.m.
