Cyclones become gridiron dynasty

The Innisfail Cyclones are no longer just champions. They are not even just defending champions. Today they can deservedly lay claim to the title of dynasty.

Last Saturday afternoon, Nov. 5, on a gorgeous fall afternoon at the Innisfail Schools Campus, the Cyclones won their third consecutive Mountain View 9 Man Football Conference championship by pummelling a gritty but overmatched Strathmore Badgers squad by a lopsided score of 67 - 6. The victory ended a dream near-perfect regular season and playoffs for the Cyclones who went undefeated with seven total victories, no losses and a tie.

“That was the plan from Day 1 with these guys. We had a whole bunch of Grade 12s who have been in those three seasons. It was their goal to three-peat from Day 1,” said head coach Trevor Wooff.

Going into the game a victory was not considered a sure thing. The Badgers tied the Cyclones 42 – 42 during the regular season, and there was a notion that upsetting Innisfail was possible. But those thoughts were quickly tossed aside during the Cyclones' first possession when Jacob Stauffer burst through the Badgers' multiple gaps to score a 65-yard punt return touchdown.

From there, the Cyclones seemingly scored at will. They led 19 – 0 after the first quarter and 33 – 0 at the half. On defence, the Cyclones put the hammer to almost every Strathmore offensive threat. The Badgers were not able to score until the dying minutes of the game when quarterback Reid Jensen scrambled eight yards for a touchdown to give the score a modicum of respectability.

“I definitely thought it was going to be a lot closer but they got up to us right from the start. They came hard. We lost a few guys. They (Cyclones) just didn't stop and didn't take their foot off the pedal,” said Sean Seafoot, head coach for the Badgers, noting Jensen “played his heart out” despite the lopsided loss. “We didn't produce anything on offence and had a tough time on defence. They (Cyclones) have lots of depth, and lots of big boys, lots of meat on their line. They are a great team and are well coached.”

Wooff said employing a short yardage strategy on offence, which they experimented with earlier in the season, was a key factor in the win.

“We decided this week that we had not brought up the intensity because we had played a number of teams that were weak, and we knew these guys were going to be tough so we started with our short yardage offence,” said Wooff. “The idea was to attack them hard up the middle and push them around as much as we could to see if they could handle it.

“We wore them down. They were dropping like flies at the end,” added Wooff.

And when it was all over, players, coaches, parents and just ordinary local football fans celebrated on the field with scores of high-fives and photo-taking to savour the Cyclones' triumphant moment.

Cyclones' centre Brandon Bovey, a Grade 12 student and one of the team's captains, was thrilled to complete the three-peat. He has been a team member for all three championships.

“It feels amazing. It's great. Everybody worked so hard. We got guys coming from everywhere to watch. It's a great experience,” said Bovey.

As for next year, Wooff knows he will lose up to 13 players, but he's also aware he has a good talented nucleus of young players who will play their hearts out to keep the winning tradition alive in 2017.

“We will keep trying to do the dynasty,” said Wooff. “We told these boys from Day 1 to try to go undefeated, and trying to three-peat is a tough chore in any league at any time, and they worked hard for it. They deserve it.”