It was a well-fought victory for Stettler Wildcats as they won their pre-season exhibition game against St. Albert Skyhawks in pouring rain on Friday, Sept. 2.
Although the opponents got on the scoreboard first with a single point kick, it was the Wildcats who scored the first touchdown of the game as Stettler's Mitchell Gudgeon broke through the defence in the eighth minute of the first quarter, with the one-point convert coming from Steele Nichols.
Despite Wildcats keeping the pressure on, the Skyhawks played a determined game scoring a touchdown in the second quarter with the scoreboard reading 7-7.
In the third quarter, Wildcat Steele Nichols scored a three-point field goal and gave Wildcats a three-point lead before finally scoring a safety in the fourth quarter as Wildcats took away the game 12-7.
"I was pleased with the overall efforts of our team," said head coach Norbert Baharally. "I thought that we played a very consistent three-way game – offence, defence and special teams."
According to Baharally, the Wildcats were able to move the ball offensively and controlled the game when they needed to.
"We have a very inexperienced offensive line, so it was good to get them some game time experience," added Baharally. "They will need to improve and get better each game if we want to advance into the league playoffs and championships and I believe that they will."
Baharally said that their defence played pretty solid all game with the exception of one play which resulted in St. Albert scoring their touchdown.
"Considering the wet and slippery weather, we still managed to generate close to 300 yards of offence," explained Baharally. "Although we fumbled the ball five times, we were able to recover those fumbles five of the times."
Baharally stated that the one area where Wildcats needed some work would be their frequency of penalties as they face Drayton Valley this Friday.
"We took eight team penalties for 65 yards, which does not make me happy," said Baharally. "We now have a short week of practice before playing on Friday at home."
Wildcats play Drayton Valley on Friday, Sept. 9 in Stettler.