The bantam 49ers and Mike Marano of the atom Buccaneers were recognized by the Capital District Minor Football Association for their achievements this year.
The 49ers were honoured as the best offensive team of the year in bantam and Marano was the recipient of the atom coach of the year award.
This was Marano’s third year as the field general for the Buccaneers and his fifth year coaching at the atom U10 level in the St. Albert Minor Football Association.
Marano guided the 2012 Buccaneers to a 3-4-1 record in the Tier 3/4 division.
The roster featured 12 10-year-olds, similar to last year’s team, with four more players than the 2011 total of 26.
“I had great coaches helping me in Adam Cassidy, Dave Granoski, Kyle Wagner and Cal Mah. We also had a group of kids who got along really well and were really coachable,” said Marano, who teaches Grade 5 and French as a second language at Sir Alexander Mackenzie School. “Offensively we were able to run a sophisticated blocking scheme, zone blocking, which set us up for success. I will admit to borrowing the idea from Randy Guy’s offensive playbook.”
Guy is also the head coach of the 49ers, 7-2 overall as the Tier 3 league champions and provincial north finalists.
Under the direction of the former Calgary Dinos’ wide receiver, the 49ers scored 245 points, tops in the Tier 3/4 division, rushed for 1,200 yards and threw for almost 2,000 yards, with 26 touchdown passes and only five interceptions.
The 49ers averaged 250 yards passing and 150 yards rushing for 400 yards of total offence per game.
The 49ers also completed 61 per cent of their passes. They also had the most passing attempts, completions, passing yards and passing TDs in the entire 17-team bantam league.
“It was a total team effort, with four different running backs and nine different receivers contributing. Our offensive line made it all work, giving us great run blocking and awesome pass protection,” said Guy, a member of the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame with the 1983-85 Dinos, winners of three-straight Hardy Cups and the 1983 and 1985 Vanier Cups.
