OLDS — Two Olds football teams are in the playoffs and another’s season is over as a result of action this past weekend.
It was a second Football Day in Olds (the first was held in mid-September) in which three teams – the École Olds High School Spartans, bantam Bulldogs and peewee Huskies all played games with playoff implications at Normie Kwong Park.
The École Olds High School Spartans finished in first place in their league and will now “host” Bow Valley in Red Deer after demolishing the Canmore Wolverines 62-21. At press time, the day and time of kickoff weren’t known.
The Bulldogs downed the Sylvan Lake Lions in their semifinal 46-20.
Head coach Matt Sutherland wasn’t sure who they’ll be playing. That depended on the outcome of another semifinal. However, he said the final will be played this Saturday.
Unfortunately, the Huskies’ season ended on Saturday after the Drumheller Terrapins edged them 28-26.
Spartan strong
The Spartans needed to win by at least 25 points to clinch first place and they certainly did that.
The two teams were pretty even in the first quarter. The Wolverines led 7-6 after the first quarter, but after that, the Spartans pulled away.
“They just put everything together and the kids worked together as a team and it was more about the team than any individual,” head coach Kent Lorenz said during an interview with the Albertan.
“They did a really good job (of) working together and they made a lot of really good plays on all sides of the ball – defensively and offensively for sure.”
One of the most spectacular Spartan plays was an incredible catch by Nate Reist, who caught the ball in the endzone over his left shoulder while falling backwards.
“He’s a good athlete,” Lorenz said. “He’s a Grade 10 first-year player. He had a really good game.”
Lorenz also singled out Radek Heppner, who once again made a big impact both offensively and defensively.
He also praised quarterback Aidan Knobben’s performance.
“He read the plays and used his legs a bit today,” Lorenz said. “That’s the first time we let him loose for the big game. We didn’t give that away all year.”
The only part of the Spartans’ game that wasn’t working well – at least in the first half – were converts. They failed a few.
Lorenz said they fixed that by moving kicker Connor Haffner and his placeholder back a few yards.
“His last two or three kicks were good,” he noted.
On D, Lorenz loved the way his players gang tackled, limiting the Wolverines to just one to three yards a carry; sometimes stopping them in the backfield.
“Evan Antle had a fantastic game for a rookie football player. He played a heck of a game and sort of set the tone on defence,” Lorenz said.
“And then as a unit, they rallied to the ball. That’s what we teach them, is everyone gets involved and takes them down, so I thought they played fantastic.”
In the first quarter, each team surrendered a fumble.
Lorenz was asked if that cold weather was a factor (the game started at 10 a.m.).
“It (was),” he said. “For us, we practise in the mornings, that’s normal for us, so we didn’t mind playing early.
“We had a couple of turnovers, but they had a lot more, for sure.”
As they get ready for the game in Red Deer, Lorenz said the Spartans will be working on their deep defensive pass coverage.
Bulldogs prevail
The Bulldogs didn’t hit the field until late in the day. By then, the wind had come up, blowing to the northeast.
“That was a great game. We don’t usually have games this late in the day, so it was just getting them motivated,” head coach Matt Sutherland said.
“The wind was a bit of a factor because it kept gusting. So one direction we were alright, the other direction we weren’t, but we kept picking away.”
Another concern was that the Bulldogs hadn’t played for a couple of weeks, due to a couple of games having been forfeited.
“They did good; worked out the nerves right away and then held on,” Sutherland said.
The Lions mounted a bit of a comeback, but the Bulldogs kept putting more points on the board too, to keep the lead.
“Sylvan’s a tough team,” Sutherland said. “They push and they keep going ‘till the end and they’ve got big guys and they keep fighting.”
Sutherland liked the way his team played on both sides of the ball.
“The defence did awesome,” he said. “Lots of interceptions and we knocked the ball out a lot, got some good defensive touchdowns.”
The Lions D swarmed Bulldogs ball carriers, but the Bulldogs also did the same when they were on defence, limiting Lions gains.
“Gang tackling was awesome, they did really well,” Sutherland said. “They’ve) been working on that for a long time, so it was good to see them do that.”
Late in the game, a time count violation was called.
“That happens every once in a while. I don’t recall ever having one against us. We’ve had it happen, yeah. It doesn’t happen very often because they’re pretty lenient, but it’s a playoff game,” Sutherland said.
While celebrating in the endzone after the win, the Bulldogs sang Happy Birthday to teammate Dysan Brown.
Season ends
Huskies head coach Dennis Yurchevich said both his team and the Terrapins went into the game dealing with short benches and injuries.
“Drumheller put up a really good fight today and unfortunately we came out on the losing end,” he said.
“We were short seven players on the bench today, including four defensive starters, so we had some guys playing positions today that they’ve never played before, so they gave it their all, they gave it their heart.
“Offensively we played a great game. Defensively, we just couldn’t keep it together.”
In a sense, the loss evened things up.
“We did beat Drumheller once in the regular season and they came back and they beat us today, so we split the season series one apiece,” Yurchevich said.
Next season will see 14 of the Huskies’ 25 players eligible to move up to the bantams.
Yurchevich agreed that’s a pretty big turnover.
“Every year’s a first year, every year’s a big learning curve,” he said. “But we make it work and we build these players up so they’re ready for the next level.”
