A second quarter comeback wasn’t enough to give the Westlock Thunderbirds their first win of the season during Wheatland Football League action against the Cold Lake Royals on Friday, Sept. 23.
The T-Birds ate away at Cold Lake’s lead heading into the final minutes of the first half, but a kick return touchdown in the final seconds of the half put the visitors ahead and Westlock wasn’t able to put up any second half points in a 41-21 loss.
Coach Jon Kramer said it was a difficult game for the squad where a couple of bounces could have meant a different fate.
“It’s one we thought we actually could have won and one we would have liked to win,” Kramer said.
“We found that we had a lot more success on offence and defence, too. In the end it was sort of the game-breaking plays, for the most part, that went their way and didn’t go our way.
“It’s not luck, it’s they’re a little more of a veteran, polished team and made their own luck that way.”
Down 21-13 in the second quarter, the T-Birds scored a pivotal touchdown and picked up a two-point conversion on their final drive of the half to knot up the score 21-21.
But on the kick return, the Royals returned it for a touchdown to reclaim the lead and wouldn’t look back from there.
“It was a really hard one to give up,” Kramer said.
Ultimately, Kramer commended his players on playing four complete quarters of football and not letting up until after the final whistle.
“We had a real competitive football team and that’s what you want to see at this point in the season,” Kramer said.
“This game was a great step in the right direction for us. We feel we’ve had a lot of growth in the last week and we’ve just got to keep building on it week in and week out.”
The loss means the T-Birds (0-3) are more than likely destined for the consolation playoffs.
“The first couple weeks we had the chance to be Top 4, that’s kind of our goal every year, but it was pretty clear that we wouldn’t find ourselves there after the first few weeks,” Kramer said.
“Now that’s we’ve refocused and said hey we’re going to play for playoffs on the consolation side and see how far we can get, we’re making the gains that I think we need to in order to make a good push into that final.”
Moving forward, the T-Birds will continue to use practice time to work on their skills and improve for their next game, which will be a tough matchup against Lloydminster’s Holy Rosary Raiders.
“They’re one of the top teams in the province,” Kramer said.
“We’re trying to take the focus that let’s not worry about the scoreboard, we’ve got 130-140 plays in any given game, so how many of those can we win?
“Breaking the game down a little bit smaller and breaking the season down in a different way, rather than just the scoreboard that these sports tend to focus on.”
The T-Birds host the Raiders at the field by Westlock Elementary School on Friday, Sept. 30. Kickoff is at 4 p.m.
