Football Alberta has handed out hardware to eleven deserving coaches for their excellence in the 2019 season, including a couple of locals

The Laurie Robertson High School Tier II Coach of the Year Award goes to Matt Hassett of the Holy Trinity Academy Knights out of Okotoks.

Hassett has been the only head coach the HTA Knights have known in their 17 year existence.

According to a release put out by Football Alberta, he's served at the Provincial Level on the Team Alberta Hawaii team and as the District Rep for the Rockyview/Foothills area of the province.

In 2019 as head coach of the Knights, he took the Knights to an 11-0 record with wins over Cardston and Bert Church to get to the Alberta Bowl where they beat the Austin O’Brien Crusaders 35-3 to win their first ever Provincial Title.

The High School Tier IV Coach of the Year Award went to Kelly Starling of the Willow Creek Cobras of Claresholm.

The powerhouse from Claresholm finished off a great season with a convincing 47 - 0 win over the St. Paul Lions in the Alberta Bowl.

Starling, the team's offensive coordinator since 2012, lead the team to it's third provincial title with his offence racking up an astounding 50 points a game on average during a seven game win streak.

During the Provincial playoffs they outscored their opposition 148-7 made all the more impressive by the fact that 3 of his 5 offensive linemen were in Grade 10.

The awards are normally handed out at the Annual Senior Bowl Awards Banquet that was scheduled for this Sunday, May 17.

However, due to the COVID-19 Pandemic shutdowns, the banquet and the Senior Bowl Game itself had to be cancelled.

 

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