What a year it was for the Swift Current Comp Colts football team, who celebrated the progress over the past three months Wednesday night at their annual awards and year-end banquet.

The Colts had one of their best years in recent memory, as they had a lead in the fourth-quarter of the league final/provincial semi-final, and nearly pulled out a W, and a chance to host the provincial final at Colts Field.

"Really excited about being able to kind of share the story about our year with our friends and families, and congratulate guys on a good year," said Colts head coach Derek Murdoch.

The season started on a frustrating note for the Colts, who lost their opener 35-30 to Moose Jaw Central.

They went 4-1 the rest of the way, however, making somewhat steady progress throughout the final five games of the regular season.

"We had a pretty talented group of football players who wanted to do good things," said Murdoch. "When you have a good group of kids with some talent, you've have an opportunity to do some cool stuff. Our guys bought into what we tried to run system-wise, and they just went out and made plays."

The Colts had to venture out to a snowy Gutheridge Field in Moose Jaw for a rematch of their opener in the league semi-final - a 10-2 win that wasn't only revenge from Week 1, but also the 2018 league semis, where the Colts fell by a similar 8-2 score.

READ: "We're Going to the ‘Ship" - Colts End Central's Season in Defensive Semi-Final

"Every year, when we're getting closer to playoff time, we talk about the clock and how it's ticking - if you don't earn another week, it's all over," Murdoch said of his 17 seniors, who stepped up in their leadership roles, especially down the stretch.

"These guys embraced that. They knew that they had to be playing their best football when it mattered. They did a great job, and put a pretty good scare into Yorkton in the league final."

That aforementioned fourth-quarter scare came with a 17-14 lead over the Raiders, but resulted in a 31-17 loss for Swift Current.

READ: Colts Leave it all on the Field in League-Final Loss

"We had the three-time defending league champs on the ropes in that championship game. Really proud of the effort these guys made," Murdoch said. "At the end of the year, you want to be playing your best football in the playoffs, and we were doing that. We gave ourselves a chance at the end of the year. Proud of that, and proud of this group of kids."

The Colts handed out nine team awards at their SCCHS-hosted banquet:

Rhett Vavra - Offensive Player of the Year
Ethan Kurtz - Defensive Player of the Year:
Noah Steinley - Lineman of the Year
Carson Letkeman - Most Improved Player
Elijah Mathies - Rookie of the Year
Titus Erick - Grade 9 Heart and Soul
Ryley Sloman - Grade 10 Heart and Soul
Rylan Schommer - Grade 11 Heart and Soul
Layne Cadrain - Grade 12 Heart and Soul

The Colts also gained a pile of league awards as well on the 2019 campaign.

READ: Colts' Vavra, Kurtz, Moberg Combine for Seven League Awards

The Colts now say goodbye to those 17 graduating players, who exit with the program in as good of, if not even better of a state than when they entered in 2017.

"It's tough - every year's tough to say goodbye to grade 12s," said Murdoch. "This group's a little extra tough, because some of the personalities are just so much fun to be around. But, that's high school football. Guys move on, and we've got to find other guys to step up and fill in. Just want to share with them that you're proud of the contributions they've made to the program."

The graduating players consist of:

7 - Houston Finlayson (not pictured)
9 - Owen Ljunggren
14 - Aussie Wiebe
15 - Aidan Kemp (not pictured)
17 - Jesse Hattum
20 - Layne Cadrain
22 - Austin Klimm
28 - Ethan Kurtz
30 - Jordan Lamontagne
40 - Brady Cloutier
41 - Hayden Dyck
48 - Preston Slusar
56 - Josh Camrador
61 - Kyle Krause
65 - Noah Steinley
83 - Dylan Pierce
86 - Jonathan Lebel

Now, motivation exists for 2020, as the Colts had a league championship within their grasp before it slipped away and into the hands of the Raiders.

"I would think that, for the guys that are returning, losing the way we did at the end of the game in a close game on the road with things being so tight at the end, you can't script a better vengeance story," Murdoch admitted.

"At the end of the day, they're high school kids - they've got lots going on in the world, and they're going to have to balance that stuff - hopefully they're working on the physical stuff, the mental stuff, learning the game. When we start in August, hopefully they're ready to go."