It may have been a tough first three quarters, but the Edwin Parr Composite School Pacers football team was able to turn the tide, defeating the Westlock Thunderbirds 20-14 in overtime on Aug. 28.
The exhibition game was the team’s first of the new season.
“We have got lots to be proud of,” said Pacers head coach Pete Burden. “We dug ourselves a big hole early, but we fought and came back. They are a way bigger team than us and we knew we were going to struggle in the beginning. We thought they were going to go to a more conventional offense, but they went back to just their power game.”
Burden said he was very happy with the win, but is very aware that his team has some work ahead of them before they can consistently win some football games.
“We definitely have to improve on handling the ball,” said Burden. “We had 11 fumbles and way too many turnovers, and there is no way we can win with that. We’ve got to clean that up and work on fundamental errors. We dropped some big passes that could have been touchdowns early on.”
Burden’s main focus prior to the game was to get his defensive team following the opponents’ ball movement and properly reacting to it.
“The first half we didn’t do well with that. The second half the guys started understanding the game and it worked out really well. They started reading the play and started to flow to the ball.”
The Pacers were trailing the Thunderbirds by 14 halfway through the third quarter before they started to turn things around by getting a touchdown at the six-minute mark. However, they were unable to get the extra point after a fumble during the attempt.
The Pacers’ defense were able to hold off Westlock’s offensive drive, pushing them back to eventually get a safety in the fourth quarter, making it 14-8. During this time, Burden made some coaching adjustments to better the offense.
“We’d seen what they were starting to do by cheating up on our running game. We knew some play-action passes would work.”
The adjustment worked just as well as he expected. With 45 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Pacers managed to throw a touchdown pass to tie up the game and send it into overtime. Within the first couple minutes of overtime, the Pacers threw their second touchdown pass of the game which would eventually seal the deal for the Pacers win.
“We’ll celebrate a little bit, but there were too many mistakes to be truly happy about the win. We know we have a lot of work to do.”
The Pacers look to improve on their game for the upcoming home opener against St. Paul on Sept. 4. The Tier 1 team will be a much tougher competitor, compared to Westlock.
“That’s going to be a struggle. They’re a Tier 1 team with a lot more athleticism and a lot more motion to their offense. We’re going to have to be really disciplined on defense and not chase too much.”
