In front of a massive crowd, the Westlock Thunderbirds handed out a crushing 62-0 victory to the Vegreville Vortex in their first home game of the season last Friday and improved to 2-0 in Wheatland Football League.
T-Birds head coach Jon Kramer noted it was great to see so many people out at the game; attendance was estimated to be between 800 to 1,000 people
Playing underneath the bright lights at the field behind Westlock Elementary School, the T-Birds led 28-0 at the end of the first half and never really looked back.
The Vortex’s defence had trouble containing the T-Birds, who dominated with a number of long running plays.
Kramer said the T-Birds had a lot of speed that night and, thanks to the sizeable lead, were able to run some plays they wouldn’t attempt under other circumstances.
For instance, Zach Kiselyk had seven carries and rushed a total of 124 yards, managing to get at least one touchdown.
Damon Sparling had three carries for 90 yards and Joe Borris scored two touchdowns, including one interception that he carried for 44 yards. He also had seven tackles.
Another highlight was Logan Breitkreuz recovering a fumble and running it 53 yards.
Brett Snell also managed to get six tackles and Sparling had five.
After the game, Kramer noted it’s always fun — and a bit surreal — for the boys to be playing underneath the lights.
Kramer said he was glad to be able to put nearly every member of the team on the field and to put quite a few of them in the end zone.
If the T-Birds’ performance weakened at any point in the game, it was during the fourth quarter. Kramer noted you can make start making some bad mistakes when you’re up by such a high score, but hopefully they can work on that in the future.
Notably, this was the T-Birds’ second game of the year, having defeated Vermilion in an away game on Sept. 7 by a score of 60-28.
The Thunderbirds are home this coming week again, hosting the Athabasca Pacers at Westlock Elementary School this Friday, Sept. 20. The game starts at 8 p.m.
