OLDS — The Bantam Bulldogs capped off their 2023 regular minor football season in a rather emphatic way, hammering the visiting Carstairs Tigers 89-0 Oct. 21 at Normie Kwong Park in Olds.
However, head coaches for both teams emphasized that the score does not reflect the potential for the Tigers.
They’re only playing in their first season in the league, having played several exhibition games last year and they have a lot of rookies on their squad.
Raymond Watson, an assistant coach of the Bulldogs, filled in for head coach Matthew Sutherland who was working that day.
“It was a good game, we played well,” Watson said. “Our offence played well. I thought our defence played even better than our offence.”
On offence, on several occasions, the Bulldogs broke out for some long runs that ended in touchdowns. They scored several others through the air.
Watson singled out the team’s gang tackling as one example of the D’s solid game.
He noted the Bulldogs not only swarmed to limit most Tiger runs to little or no gain, but also got several sacks, a couple of fumble recoveries and three or four interceptions.
As for special teams, Watson said the kickoff unit turned in a solid game.
“Our kick return we only did once, but they showed improvement,” he said.
“Everything we’ve been practising has turned out onto the field very well.”
However, the Bulldogs still have to work on some things, Watson said.
Penalties, for example.
The Bulldogs were assessed several penalties, ranging from offsides to a couple of blocking-in-the-back calls.
“Blocking from the back is a 15-yard penalty, so we’ve got to clean those up. It’s going to hurt us if we keep taking those penalties,” he said.
Carstairs Tigers head coach Mark Sitter was philosophical after the game.
“I mean obviously this is a very good club we played against," he said.
“They have lots of depth, from peewee all the way through to their senior team, so it’s tough to come out with such a rookie team and put any points on the board. As you could see it was tough.
“But I saw a lot of good stuff out of my kids, even though we took a loss.”
For example, Sitter liked the way his defence played.
"When we made some tackles, they were good tackles,” he said.
“Offence had some good run plays. We had some good blocking up the middle, some good holes. And I think we made more receptions in this game than we had in others.”
He said likely the biggest mistakes his team made involved getting proper personnel on the field in different situations and quickly reacting to injuries.
The Bulldogs now await their first opponent in the playoffs. At press time, Watson wasn’t sure who that might be.
Sitter said their opponent will be settled when the seeding is sorted out. As of Saturday, the Tigers were a ninth seed.
If they drop to a 10th seed, they’ll take on Hanna on Oct. 28. If they remain a ninth seed, they’ll play Innisfail on Nov. 4.
