All three of Stettler’s football teams had terrible-looking losses last week, in a week the score-sheets were not at all fair to local boys.
Both Wildcats of the Wm. E Hay and the bantam Cougars faced their opponents from Lacombe and lost 46-14 and 48-0, respectively, while the peewee Panthers lost to Red Deer Hornets 38-0.
The heavy loss of the Wildcats came through a hurricane which blew over the Wm. E Hay football field when the visiting Lacombe Rams scored 21 points in just under 90 seconds.
“I have never seen it happen in high school football in the years I have been involved,” said Widlcats head coach Norbert Baharally.
The game looked like progressing at a balanced pace until two minutes left to the end of the second period.
At the time, the visitors were leading 6-0 having scored a touchdown at the end of the first period.
When Landon Potter responded with the Wildcats’ touchdown near the end of the second period, he triggered a massive onslaught of the Rams with three consecutive touchdowns and three converts in just under a minute and a half.
The first touchdown came when the Rams receiver rushed almost 100 yards without being stopped. After conversion, the Raiders kicked the ball, Wildcats fumbled and Raiders recovered and it was the second touchdown of the storm.
Within seconds, Rams once again took possession of the ball and with another long range rush it was the third touchdown of the period for the Raiders.
“I don’t even remember how the third touchdown came,” said Baharally.
“It just happened so quickly. We just imploded.”
“The defense fell asleep in some of those plays,” he said in reference to the touchdowns scored by the opponents after very long rushes.
The rest of the game, Wildcats could not get over the shock although they could score one more touchdown towards the end of the fourth quarter.
Baharally said, in order to make it to the playoffs, Wildcats had to return with a win from this Friday’s game in Wetaskiwin.
In the bantam Cougars’ game, despite the score, head coach Mike Roach said the team was not all that bad.
“The Cougars played much better than the score indicated,” he said.
“The poor special- teams play and inopportune penalties left the defense on the field much too long. For the most part the defense played well.”
“When the offense did get on the field, they showed a great deal of improvement in their blocking and showed more intensity than any previous games. The boys never gave up and continued to fight until the final buzzer.”
On offense, Austin Peterson had 46 yards on nine carries and Nicholas Baharally had 40 yards on 15 carries while in defense Baharally had eight tackles and Brandon Rowland had five.
The Cougars now host the Notre Dame Cougars on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m. at Wm. E. Hay field.
The peewee Panthers got a big pat in the back from their coaches despite their defeat for having done a lot of the things right.
Quarterback Kyle Lawrence was amazingly good in his passing play, particularly in the second and third periods with very targeted long range passes that could not be received.
“I was quite happy with the way the kids played,” said head coach Gary Sorenson.
“In our defense, outside containment was a little bit weak and that cost us some points, that is something we need to improve on.”
“But we did a lot of things very well.”
“It is coming a long and they are starting to grow with every game,” he said.
“The score is not indicative of the game and as coaches, we are overall quite happy with what they did.”
Panthers now travel to Strathmore for their second away game on Saturday.
“We are hoping to bring back a win
from Strathmore,” said Sorenson.