In a split second, the game turned from their potential first win on the year to a devastating blow and another mark in the loss column.
The Athabasca Pacers fell 35-14 to Vegreville at EPC field on Friday that head coach Pete Burden felt was the one that got away.
“We had them on the ropes,” he said about his offence inside Vegreville’s 10-yard-line midway through the fourth quarter down 28-14.
“And then the ball gets thrown just slightly behind our receiver and it gets picked off then goes the other way for a touchdown. We get that touchdown and we’re right in it with about six minutes left, with all the momentum.”
And Burden was right. The Pacers stayed close to Vegreville for much of the game, down just 14-7 at halftime courtesy of a 50-yard interception return for a touchdown by the Pacers Rene Desjardins in the opening quarter.
That was followed by a three-yard plunge into the endzone early in the fourth quarter by Jothan Ramos to bring the Pacers within 14 of Vegreville.
While the Pacers offence was clicking for the most part, it was their defence that struggled this time out allowing several big plays on short dump passes over the middle.
Two of those plays ended up being Vegreville touchdowns, while two others would have been if they had not been called back due to penalties.
“The guys did have some dropped passes, but our quarterback was making the right reads, said Burden.
“But we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. We knew what they were going to do and kept telling our guys what to look for, but our guys just sat back and watched it happen, then tried to make a tackle and they simply went right by us.”
Burden added it’s hard when you have a lot of first-year players and they keep making the same mistake over and over, even after you keep pointing it out to them.
However, there is still a chance the Pacers can end up achieving their goal of a championship.
“There is still a shot, but it’s going to be a lot tougher as it will have be done all on the road,” Burden said.
A win on Thursday on the road against the also winless Vermilion Marauders (game time 4 p.m.) would put the Pacers into the playoffs.
Should that happen, the Pacers would face another harsh test in the semi-finals where they would play the winner of this week’s first place clash between Wainwright and Westlock.
“We can’t lose focus, we need to win this week,” Burden said.
