The Westlock Thunderbirds football team ended their Wheatland Football League regular season on Saturday by avenging their earlier loss to the St. Paul Lions, downing the visiting team by a score of 25-16.
“We were very good today. I wouldn’t say great, but we were very good in our execution,” said head coach Jon Kramer.
During their first match of the season on Sept. 5, the T-Birds lost handily to the St. Paul Lions by a score of 49-14.
Even though that was just an exhibition game, “we wanted our players to know we’re going to coach them to be great, not just to be competitive or to be average,” said Kramer.
“These guys beat us handily in Week 1, so to come away just a handful of weeks later and to get a victory on our end is huge.”
During Saturday’s home game, St. Paul jumped out to an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
“They drove down the field at will and put one in before we could do much about it. So our guys were caught a bit ... off guard, I guess,” said Kramer.
Kramer put down their shaky start to the boys adjusting to a Saturday home game, as they usually play on a Friday night. “I think we were more out of routine than over-matched,” he added.
In any case, the T-Birds did not end the first quarter without getting on the scoreboard, managing to tie it up at 7-7.
In the second quarter, Robert Bokenfohr scored another a touchdown for the T-Birds to put them ahead 13-7. St. Paul responded by getting their second touchdown with just 31.5 seconds left in the first half.
With the score tied at 13-13, Joshua Dittmer drove down the field in the third quarter for a third touchdown, leaving the score at 19-13.
St. Paul struggled in the second half, not getting on the scoreboard throughout the third quarter. Finally, they kicked for a field goal with 11:02 remaining on the clock in the fourth quarter.
With just four minutes left, Dittmer scored the T-Birds’ fourth touchdown to secure their win at 26-16.
With just over two minutes left on the clock, the game was stopped for a considerable length of time when Will Byvank suffered a possible concussion that necessitated calling an ambulance.
Having secured first place in their division with a 5-2 record, the T-Birds have a bye during the first round of playoffs and will not play again until Saturday, Nov. 1, at Westlock.
It is uncertain who the T-Birds will now face — that will be determined this Oct. 25-26 weekend — but Kramer believes it will probably be Wainwright, who were second in their division.
If the T-Birds win that home match, they then go to St. Paul on Nov. 8 for the league final. “We have one game left, maybe two,” Kramer added.
He added that it’s great to see local fans continuing to show up for T-Birds games, especially for their Grade 12 grads.
“For our Grade 12 grads, they’re always counting down the games ... because for them, it’s their second or third-last game,” he said. “For those guys, it’s big to see fan support.”
