Stettler Panthers suffered a heavy 44-0 defeat at the hands of Lacombe last weekend with head coach Gary Sorenson admitting that the opponent was far superior in terms of size and speed.
“They were a very good team, very big players, they have a running back with seven provincial track and field records, they shut us down pretty good,” said Sorenson after the game.
“Our passing game was not too bad, but in our rushing game we ended up having total 80 yards rushing and over 100 yards passing, roughly.”
Jeremy Kirk had five catches for 94 yards and Maverick Wilford two catches for 21 yards.
Andrew Shirley had about 25 yards rushing, Kyle Poapst had 18 yards and Brett Roper had 15 yards.
“They were like our teams of the past three years,” said Sorenson in reference to Panthers teams that won successive area and provincial championships in peewee football.
“Our young team is just learning and they are a very tough team to play against, we came out from the game with things to learn from and we came out with good things, like passing, as well.”
The coach said the team would need to learn to block and tackle the opponents’ offensive players.
“We are just going to get into the next game trying to get better.”
Defense coach Zeke Ryan said he was pleased with the fact that Panthers “stayed in the game.”
“Lacombe is a powerhouse team,” Ryan said.
He also said that the young players of Panthers were still learning and that they would be in much better shape as the season progressed.