OLDS — The bantam Olds Bulldogs will have to look ahead to next season now.
They were crushed 52 – 12 by the Ponoka bantam Broncs in Ponoka on Saturday, Nov. 2.
The Albertan asked Bulldogs head coach Matt Sutherland why the team lost.
“Very simply it came down to execution,” Sutherland wrote in an email. “We didn't execute consistently when we needed to on all sides of the ball.
“We had great moments, but were not able to string enough together and fell behind. Ponoka came out strong. They wanted it more and played very aggressively.
“Unfortunately, we did not capitalize on the staggering amount of yardage we gained from penalties to Ponoka.”
The Bulldogs will experience a huge amount of turnover between this season and next.
Nineteen of their 28 players are eligible to move up to the École Olds Spartan football program next year.
Included in that group are some players who were very important for the Bulldogs this season.
“Our 10 veterans, Alex Andrew, Cadler Hallett, Caiden Stevens-Bullough, Corben Christensen, Eli Reimer, Ethan Dietz, Jacob Dietz, Fourie Claassens, Logan O'Neil, and Zane Cox were key to the team and program development,” Sutherland wrote.
“We have nine out of the 19 that have either never played football before or been away from the game for some time that did an amazing job developing and growing that will move up as well.
“We lose a great group of players that will be a huge boost to the Spartans program.”
On the other hand, the bantams will be receiving some new players who graduate from the peewee Huskies program.
“I believe it is around 15 Huskies that are moving up to us and we are definitely excited to have them,” Sutherland wrote.
