St. Mary prepares for their regular season opener during practice on Sept. 10, 2025. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW Staff)

By Logan Lehmann

High School Football

St. Mary hopeful ahead of new season with familiar group

Sep 12, 2025 | 8:00 AM

Following a rough season in the North Saskatchewan Football League (NSFL) last year, St. Mary is returning with much of the same group, only stronger and wiser.

The Marauders ended the 2024 season last in the league with a 1-4 record to show for it, and head coach Curt Hundeby said it was a tough pill to swallow.

“We were young, a lot of guys that were starting probably a year before we would have wanted them to. But I think we learned some tough lessons, and this year, we have a very veteran group coming back. Most of the guys that played last year are back, so our expectations are certainly higher than they were last year.”

St. Mary had a lone preseason game prior to Friday’s regular season start, where they were toppled 51-17 by the St. Paul Saints from Alberta. Despite the lopsided score, Hundeby said it was a great learning opportunity for the team.

“A team like St. Paul shows all of the mistakes. It shows all the areas where a small change in an angle costs us, a small bit of foot position costs us, or a small bit of an alignment costs us, whereas against a weaker team, you may get away with it, so you don’t notice it. We want to play a team that’s going to be of that quality so that we can expose that in preseason so that we can get it fixed for the regular season.”

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He said that size was a factor in the loss, adding that the team is a bit undersized. However, that doesn’t include their grit, nor their hearts for the game.

“We’re not real big, but we’ve got some scrappy dudes.”

Of course, with much of the team returning from last year, some spots needed to be filled in this year’s roster, including at quarterback.

Hundeby said that they turned to Cohen L’Abbe as their starting QB this season, who was a linebacker and receiver for the Marauders last season.

“One of the spots we did struggle with [last year] was at quarterback. We knew we needed a guy that had a little bit more of a veteran mentality, a guy that’s pretty mentally tough, and we knew that Cohen could be that guy,” he explained.

“Certainly not a natural position for him that he’s played a whole bunch of years, but he’s progressing really well each day. He’s embraced the role, he’s gone to camps, he’s done all sorts of stuff to get himself ready to play.”

St. Mary hits the road for their first game of the North Saskatchewan Football League season on Friday, headed to Martensville for a 4 p.m. kickoff. Following that game, the Marauders are off to North Battleford in Week 2 on Sept. 18. Kickoff for that contest is at 7 p.m.

A full NSFL schedule can be found by clicking here.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com

On Bluesky: @loganlehmann.bsky.social