The 9-a-side High School Football League concludes this weekend with the Rocky Rebels vying for a championship title.

Football Alberta says the COVID disruption of 2020-21 claimed more than a few victims in the world of sports, noting the loss of some teams and shortage of officials in all sports being well documented. In football, the organization acknowledges the same challenges occurred. But thanks to some innovative adaptations, the high school scene in Alberta did not lose any programs coming out of the pandemic, say officials with Football Alberta.

According to Football Alberta, one of the innovative adaptations was running smaller roster competitions for traditional teams who were struggling to get their numbers back up. Officials add, the 6-a-side option has been in place for over a decade, but for larger schools, a more practical adaptation of 9-a-side was adopted for some tradition-laden schools from Central Alberta and the Mighty Peace Region.

This week will feature the 9-a-side league championship between host the Rocky Mountain House Rebels and Wetaskiwin Sabres on Saturday, Oct. 29, at 11:00 a.m. at Curtis Field in Rocky.

Football Alberta says these two programs have a very long tradition of high competitiveness over the decades.

Rocky finished first with an undefeated record this season and beat Camrose 40-14 in the semi-final. Meanwhile, Wetaskiwin, who finished third in the league, beat Peace River in the other semi-final game, 26-13.