In the end, one quarter cost them a shot at another game.
The Athabasca Pacers football team went to Wainwright last Saturday to face the Commandos in a Wheatland Division II quarterfinal game and couldn’t find their legs fast enough.
They gave up four touchdowns in the second quarter and could only muster a pair of their own in reply in the second half and saw their season come to an end with the 27-13 loss.
“We gave up two long passes and had one bad quarter. Otherwise, we won the second half and did what we wanted,” explained head coach Pete Burden.
“We just couldn’t finish off drives on offense in the first half and then we’d have the ball go over our heads on kickoffs and punts, then we’d have to start from deep in our own end. That certainly didn’t help us either.”
One of those punts that sailed over the head of the Pacers returner ended up as a fumble on their own five-yard line, which lead to a Wainwright touchdown just three plays later.
“We made the right adjustments at halftime,” added Burden.
“But it was also the story of how our season went, we had chances, but would drop a pass here or make a wrong read. However, the boys have improved a lot considering they got 55 points against us last time.”
Even with the season coming to an end the way it did, Burden said the boys were eager and ready to begin building toward next season.
“They realized it was going to be tough this year with the rebuilding we had to do. We only lose three players for next year and this group will be a lot more experienced plus I hear there are lot more young kids coming up that may want to play,” he stated.
“If so, that means next year is looking fairly good right now.”
Burden added he wanted to especially thank the alumni who helped out because without them, the team would have been in trouble with the way things went this season.
