The Stettler Cougars hosted the Strathmore Spartans in Central Football League bantam action Saturday and posted a 38-0 victory.
The Cougars did their homework the previous week, as they used their bye week to prepare for the Spartans.
“It was the first week since opening day that we were able to dress 26 players,” said head coach Mike Roach, whose Cougars were coming off a 34-19 loss to the Lacombe Raiders in Week 4 action.
Last weekend, the Spartans received the opening kickoff and got two quick first downs. Stettler stopped their drive when Christian Young recovered a Spartan fumble. The Cougar offence struck quickly. On their third play from scrimmage, Mike Loblaw broke away to score on a 34-yard run.
Leading 6-0, the Cougars forced the Spartans to punt on their next offensive series and went on the attack again. An eight-play drive ended with a TD when Cody Calihoo scored on a five-yard run. Once again, the convert failed.
The next Spartans’ drive was stopped when Marcus Boggs sacked the quarterback. It took the Cougars only five plays to add another TD. Young scored on a nine-yard plunge to make the score 18-0.
Jeremy Kirk connected with a 10-yard pass to Loblaw for a single-point conversion and Stettler led 19-0.
The Spartans were forced to punt again. Two plays later, the Cougars added another TD when Kyle Lawrence and Thomas Cassidy connected on a 29-yard pass completion.
The convert was missed and Stettler led 25-0.
Terry Burks stalled a Spartan drive when he had a fumble recovery, but the Cougars threw an interception to end their series on offence.
In the second half, the Cougars would add two more touchdowns from Cassidy. Clayton Page was successful on a single-point conversion pass to complete the scoring.
Stettler’s defence continued its aggressive play and had two more fumble recoveries by Burks and Loblaw to stop any offensive threat the Spartans tried.
“Cody Calihoo, Brett Roper, Christian Young and Andrew Shirley also played extremely well on defence,” Roach said.
The Cougars travel to Red Deer this Saturday to play the undefeated Lindsay Thurber Raiders. It will be the final regular-season game for both teams.
Peewees win, too
It was also a winning weekend for the peewee Stettler Panthers, who won 14-6 against host Lacombe.
Nevada Bauer ran the ball in for the opening Stettler touchdown and the Panthers kicked the two point convert.
After Lacombe responded with its only touchdown, Stettler’s Casey Wright caught a pass from Jordan Lane and ran in for the Panthers’ other major.
Stettler, with a 2-2 record, hosts Sylvan Lake at 10 a.m. Saturday.
In high school action Thursday at 4 p.m., the Stettler Wildcats are at home to the Notre Dame Cougars of Red Deer.