The Olds Peewee Huskies ran into a strong Lacombe Explosion team on Saturday at Normie Kwong Park, losing by a 51-0 score in Central Peewee Football League action.
The Explosion jumped out to a 26-0 lead at the half, then extended it to 42-0 after three quarters and running out the clock in the fourth.
The Huskies had a tough time trying to penetrate the strong Explosion defence, getting stymied at almost every opportunity. Meanwhile, the Explosion were able to make a few plays and advance the ball through the Husky defence, scoring several touchdowns and converting them.
Neil Skaluba, the Huskies' coach, said he hoped playing the Explosion gave the players a good idea about what they need to do to improve and get to the next level in their development.
“They can see what's required to get to the next level looking at the way Lacombe played and as we keep playing their eyes get opened a little more and they get a little more experience about where they need to get to. There's no question about the effort from the core of the kids, they want to play football,” he said.
One of the issues the Huskies are facing currently is a lack of players to fill out the roster. There are currently only 19 players on the team, with Skaluba saying the ideal would be 25 to 30 players to be able to draw on replacements for players as some inevitably suffer injuries.
“Right from the start of the year we knew we were going to be low on the number of players we have, and we still have that issue, so as we go through the season, a kid gets injured, nicked up a little bit, to replace him is another issue. That makes it really difficult to field a team and then back them up. It's a big challenge because of the low numbers,” he said.
The team's next game is a home contest against the Red Deer Steelers on Saturday at Normie Kwong Park.
