Wm. E Hay’s Wildcats ended their season in Peace River on Saturday, Nov. 20 when they lost to Peace River Pioneers 30-7 in the Tier III Northern Division final, a season Wildcats head coach Norbert Baharally described as “successful”.
“Last year we were last place in the league, this year we made to the top four in the playoffs, qualified for provincial playoff and played in the northern provincial final,” said Baharally.
“We are definitely very happy with the way our team progressed and how we performed this year.”
Baharally said it was a good combination of veteran players and the new ones who came from the bantam program into high school football that contributed to the far better performance of the team in this season as compared to last.
“These young players have been in the minor football program for some time, so we are getting kids more knowledgeable about the game and with some experience in the game. So they can move to a starting position, which is a huge step and big help for us as we don’t have to go back and teach and coach a lot of the fundamentals,” Baharally said.
The Wildcats head coach added that it was a great advantage for the coaching staff to be able to work on developing systems and techniques with players already knowledgeable about the basics.
As for the outlook for next year, Baharally sounded optimistic.
“This year’s Grade 10 players will be Grade 11 players and we will have a decent group of Grade 9 players moving up to join us as Grade 10 players.”
“I would expect us to be in the same position again next year, hopefully contending for league championship and being able qualify for provincial playoffs as well,” Baharally concluded.