What can go wrong, will go wrong, according to Edwin Parr Composite High School Pacers coach Pete Burden.
After a week of disaster, Burden said the team pulled through and won last Friday against the Westlock Thunderbirds 48-34.
“It was a rough week for us. We had a lot of distractions all week long,” Burden said. “Monday night we had eight players miss practice, which put us behind.”
“On Tuesday, we had a discipline issue with three of our players.”
He said the focus wasn’t on the upcoming game.
“On Wednesday after practice, one of our players is in cheerleading, and he ended up tearing a piece off his bone where the tendon attaches to,” he said. “He had to have surgery on Thursday.”
On top of the week the team had, they arrived in Westlock, changed and got on the bus to be taken to the field, and the bus broke down.
“We didn’t start off really well,” Burden said. “We took a lot of penalties in the first half. We had four touchdowns held back on penalties.”
Burden said the team was making a lot of mistakes.
“We were down 34-21 at half time,” he said. “It wasn’t the way we planned on the game going.”
After a pep talk at halftime, the team pulled their socks up and won the game.
“It was a very exciting game,” he said, adding half the fans were from Athabasca.
The Pacers ran more during this past game than they usually would.
“We didn’t throw the ball as much as we normally do,” he said. “The defence was trying to take the ball away from us, so we ran 590 yards of rushing.”
Burden said the Pacers’ next game is on Friday in Vegreville at 4 p.m., adding that the team’s next home game is not until Oct. 4.
