The Westlock Thunderbirds are no longer undefeated after dropping a 16-6 decision to the Athabasca Pacers last Friday.
The loss also drops the T-Birds to second place in Tier 2 of the Wheatland Football League, behind the Vermilion Marauders. The Marauders and T-Birds have identical 3-1 records, but the Marauders sit on top with a better point differential.
Coach Jon Kramer said despite the loss, his team played four quarters of good football and still has a good shot at earning first place in the league and therefore home-field advantage during the playoffs.
“We’re still in a really good position; our destiny is in our hands,” he said. “We’re not counting on other teams to lose in order to get first.”
Friday’s game was a tough battle throughout, Kramer said, with the Thunderbirds able to get an early lead but not to increase it. They notched their first touchdown in the first quarter with an impressive run.
“We had a really long run from one of our Morinville kids, Austin Ouellette, our fullback. It must have been 90 or 95 yards he ran, and got the touchdown,” he said.
The rest of the game turned into a tough back-and-forth match, with neither team able to break the deadlock until just three minutes left in the game.
The Pacers pushed the T-Birds back and forced them to take a safety to make the score 6-2. Then in a strong offensive push, the Pacers scored a touchdown.
“We kicked off and they drove down the field in about four plays. They just broke open on the defence.” Kramer said.
The Pacers missed the conversion leaving the score at 8-6, but they were quickly back on the offensive, recovering an on-side kick and pushing for a second touchdown.
They notched a two-point conversion on the touchdown, giving them a 16-6 win.
The win returned the favour on the T-Birds, who won the teams’ previous meeting 22-12.
The loss didn’t get the local boys too down, especially after some encouraging words from Kramer, who pointed out just how far the club has come since it started up again several years ago.
“In our first season, we didn’t win any games and I think we had four touchdowns on the whole year, so the guys know how far we’ve come,” he said.
Friday’s loss came on the heels of a 31-0 exhibition game loss against the Tier 1 Bonnyville Voyageurs Sept. 27 in Westlock, which Kramer said really tired the players out — playing three games in eight days is tough on any club.
“On the pros it’s tough and on high-school kids it’s tougher,” he said.
Regardless, that game was a good learning opportunity for many of the players, and the team was able to try out some new things knowing the game did not affect the standings.
The T-Birds are back at home this week, with a game against the Vegreville Vortex at 4 p.m. on Oct. 6. That game will kick off with a pep rally at Westlock Elementary School, something that’s never been done before, but which Kramer said is a great opportunity.
“We did the parade and noticed there were a ton of kids who were excited, so we want to take this chance to get them excited about football,” he said.
