On Saturday, the Cougars hosted the Hunting Hills Lightning in the first round of the Central Football League playoffs. The Lightning roster was hard hit by the flu bug and were only able to dress 19 of their 30 players. For the most part the Cougars were healthy.
The Lightning received the opening kick off but were unable to move the ball and punted to the Cougars. On the first play from scrimmage, Bryce Fisher found a huge hole and got a 50-yard run. On the next play, Braden Nelson, sprinted 19 yards into the end zone for the TD. Mark Forrester was good on the 2 point conversion and Stettler led 8 - 0. Once again the Cougar defense forced a punt and on Stettler’s third offensive play, Parker Cassidy, dashed 30 yards into the end zone. The convert was missed and the score was 14 - 0. The first quarter ended with two more Braden Nelson touchdowns. Nicholas Baharally.converted one of his two convert tries, and Stettler led 28 - 0.
The second quarter was much like the first. The Cougars were unstoppable. Mark Forrester bulled his way in for a TD and made the convert, so the score was 36 - 0. Brandon Wintringham picked off a Lightning pass to give the offense great field position. Parker Cassidy got his second TD of the day on another 30-yard run, but the convert was missed. Cougars 42 - 0. On the ensuing kick off, Micheal Lalonde forced a fumble and touched it before it went out of bounds, so Stettler got the ball back. Morgan Loshny hooked up with Austin Cherewko on a short pass to score the last TD of the half. Forrester was good on the convert and the score was 50 - 0.
In the second half the Cougars switched to their younger players but Hunting Hills was unable to contain them. Mark Meyer broke off two long runs for TDs and Forrester was good on one of two converts, so the score was 64- -0. Mark Forrester finished off the scoring with a 62 yard interception return, so the final score ended up 70 - 0.
The Lightning played as hard as they could. They were hitting as hard at the end of the game as they were in the beginning. They showed a lot of heart and fighting spirit. They will now drop into the Tier 3 semi-finals.
In other quarter - final action, the Sylvan Lake Lions surprised the Notre Dame Cougars and came out victorious. Lacombe defeated Springbank, and Lindsay Thurber beat Olds.
In Tier 2 play, Stettler will host Sylvan Lake in the semi-final, and Lacombe will host Lindsay Thurber. The losers on Saturday will play in the Tier 3 semi-finals. Notre Dame will host Hunting Hills and Olds will host Springbank.
Saturday, Oct. 31 will be a busy day at the football field. The peewee Panthers will host the Sylvan Lake Bears in a Tier 4 semi-final game and the Cougars will host the Sylvan Lake Lions. The Panthers game is scheduled to start at 11 a.m. Game time for the Cougars is yet to be determined.