From a win/loss perspective, it's not a great year for the Olds High School Spartans football team.
As of last week, their record was one win and five losses.
But head coach George Grant argues that's not the only way to evaluate a team.
"If you're looking at just the win/loss records we're not doing that great, but if we're looking at improvement within the program, we're doing a fantastic job," he says.
"The kids are really working hard and having fun and giving it their best each and every game and we're seeing improvement all the time. Unfortunately we're not getting that final scoreboard number that the rest of the world seems to grade football programs by."
Grant notes this year's edition of the Spartans has only 22 players.
"That's about 10 kids shorter than what we normally carry," he says. "A lot of the guys have to play both ways and there's not much (opportunity) for rest.
"Some of the kids really never really come off the field, but they're working hard and they seem to be having fun; they keep showing up for practices so I guess that's the main indicator that they want to be here.
"It's a great group of kids, great attitude, fantastic work ethic. If we could just get that one break and get a win under our belt, I think we would really start to soar with that confidence."
The Spartans were hammered 51-7 by Canmore at home on Oct. 20. They'll meet again in the first round of the playoffs in Canmore on Oct. 26.
"If we win that first playoff game, that guarantees us slot into the provincial playdowns," Grant says.
He concedes that Canmore has beaten the Spartans handily each of the two times they've played them so far.
"They thumped us really well," Grant says.
As a result, the team has adjusted since the first game.
"We've made a number of changes in systems and hopefully enough of a change that we can combat what it is that they do, and then hopefully we can give our quarterback a little bit of time so he can make the reads and get the ball out to the right receivers at the right time," Grant says.
Should the Spartans meet Canmore in the playoffs that would be the third time they've tangled with each other.
"We're going to get to know them very, very well, which can be a good thing, it can be a bad thing. So we'll have to see how things go on Saturday and hopefully things go our way," Grant says.
Overall, although the Spartans are "banged up," they've had very few injuries this year.
Except for one.
Ethan Kratchmer separated his shoulder during a game against Cardston.
That injury ended his season, but also unfortunately the Grade 12 student's high school football career, Grant says.
