For the first time since a three-day spring camp in June, the HCI Mohawks are back on the football field.

After welcoming players back on Tuesday, the team will take the next two weeks to get players into football mode and gameplan for their first contest of the season.

"We look forward to the season. We have a lot of Grade 11's moving to Grade 12. They're pretty keen on this game, and so are our coaches. We expect a tremendous year," said Head Coach Cory Popoff.

Popoff noted that with a large group of Grade 12's this year, he has noticed an upswing in attention to bettering themselves as players.

"They're eager and willing to learn the game, even more than they do now," he said. "A lot of them have taken the time to do offseason training and camps."

After two months away from any football action, and for most, organized sports, Popoff says that the first few days back are typically used to get the players moving.

"First week of practice is usually conditioning. I know a lot of our players do condition over the summer - some more than others," he explained. "We take a look at all safety things and make sure equipment fits probably and make sure they're well-suited and ready to go."

Following the first week, attention begins to turn toward the beginning of the season. The Mohawks will visit Tisdale in their season opener on September 9.

Since Popoff has taken over as the team's head coach, and even in the couple of years prior, the coaching staff has remained relatively unchanged.

Popoff believes that is a feather in the team's cap in terms of being able to preach what Mohawks football is to their players without any messages getting lost along the way.

"Coaches carry along with them a culture. Right now we have a culture of success and excellence with," he said. "With our coaching staff remaining pretty much the same year after year, we get the benefit of keeping our culture for football strong."

"We couldn't be more blessed with the talent that we have with our community coaches as well as our staff coaches," continued Popoff.

The Mohawks have added two more coaches to round out their staff. Andrew Abbs will work with defensive backs, while Josh Kovach will assist defensive coordinator Brian Hinz with linebackers.

  • Head Coach: Cory Popoff
  • Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs: Dave Rowe
  • Defensive Coordinator/Linebackers: Brian Hinz
  • Defensive Line: Tom Schwinghamer
  • Defensive Backs: Andrew Abbs
  • Defence/Linebackers: Josh Kovach
  • Quarterbacks: Mike Suchan
  • Receivers: Tyler Bieber
  • Offensive Line: Jamie Zaluski

Off the field, the Mohawks are adding some new features as well.

Over the past few years, the club has worked to replace their current sound booth and the time has finally come for that to come to fruition.

Soon to be constructed at Glenn Hall Park will be a two level tower that features storage and a concession on the bottom, with a media box at the top.

"The tower project itself is a much-needed replacement. As you can tell, the old tower is looking pretty tired," Popoff noted.

A two level media and storage tower is soon to be ready for use at Glenn Hall Park.

In addition to usage from the Mohawks, Popoff adds that other groups in the city will also benefit from the new feature.

"It has a multi-purpose to it. It will solve some of our storage issues and house a canteen out of it eventually," he explained. "Our community will benefit from the use of this tower. We look forward to sharing this tower with local organizations that wish to have activities at Glenn Hall Park."

Being a non-profit organization, Popoff says that the Mohawks have had plenty of support from the City of Humboldt and area businesses to complete the tower project.

"We have a really supportive community in Humboldt and our local businesses have been incredible to us," he said. "The City of Humboldt, under leadership from Darrell Lessmeister has supported this project incredibly well."

The Mohawks hope to have the tower operational by their first home game of the season, which comes September 16 against Clavet.

Mohawks Regular Season Schedule
Friday, Sept 9 - at Tisdale
Friday, Sept 16 - vs Clavet
Friday, Sept 23 - vs Nipawin
Friday, Sept 30 - vs Melfort
Friday, Oct 7 - at Clavet
Friday, Oct 14 - at Melfort

You can hear more from Popoff below.