First place in Wheatland Football League is well within the Westlock Thunderbirds football team’s sights after hammering the hometown Vegreville Vortex 52-0 on Oct. 4.
Looking back on the win over the Vortex, coach Jon Kramer said he was very impressed with how the T-Birds played.
“It was probably the best game we’ve played as a team,” he said.
Although the T-Birds scored fewer points against the Vortex last week than they did in their first meeting Sept. 13 at home, Kramer said the road win was a much more technically sound victory.
“We ran our X’s and O’s to a T and it was a lot of fun to see the guys have success doing things the right way,” he said.
The previous meeting had featured a lot of cheating or adlibbing of the system, a style of play that wouldn’t yield much success if tried in the playoffs, Kramer explained.
Earning the win on the road was the result of the T-Birds tightening up their game, especially in the early going. They had started slow in their last home game, and Kramer said that didn’t happen this time.
“We came out strong right out of the gate in this one and we found success in pretty much every area,” he said.
The win was a total team effort.
The T-Birds scored eight touchdowns, with six different players scoring at least one each. In addition, eight different players carried the ball at one time or another, and on defence 13 different players recorded a tackle.
Kramer also took advantage of the score to give rookies ample time to shine.
Leading the rookies were Josh Dittmer and Nick Schwarz.
The team’s back-up quarterback, Dittmer played the full second half, and threw his first touchdown of the season to Dustin Schreiber in the fourth quarter.
“He was very confident and made some real good decisions,” Kramer said of Dittmer’s performance.
For his part, Schwarz recorded his third interception of the season, and recovered a Vortex fumble as well.
Adding in the work of the other rookies who saw game action, Kramer said the young players provided a big boost for the rest of the team.
“It was a highlight for the team just to see these guys come in and make a real big play,” he said.
On the defensive side of the ball, Kramer couldn’t be happier with how things played out.
More than half of the Vortex’s offensive drives ended within three plays, a testament to the T-Birds’ “sound and aggressive” defence.
“The defence really didn’t give them much momentum at all,” Kramer said. “We kind of knew that when our defence was out they’d be out for two plays and a punt return, then our offence would be back again.”
With the win, the T-Birds control their destiny, needing only to beat the Athabasca Pacers by 15 or more points on Oct. 10 to earn top spot in the regular season standings, which would give the T-Birds two home playoff games instead of the one they are already assured.
