It may not have been the victorious end to the season they dreamed of, but the Westlock Thunderbirds are holding their helmets high after taking silver medals in the Wheatland Football League consolation final Oct. 27.
When the dust settled in Wainwright, the Commandos had edged the Thunderbirds 34-22, but head coach Jon Kramer said they battled to the very end.
“It was a real back-and-forth game, similar to the last time we played them,” he said. “We made some long drives and punched some in, but they had a really good running back who made a couple long touchdowns on us.
“It’s tough to see it done but we’re really proud of the guys. All season long they competed in every game they were in and gave a really, really good effort. As a coach that’s what you hope for.”
Kramer said the team left Wainwright in good spirits, noting they felt good knowing they had left everything they had on the turf.
He said the hardest part of the loss was that many of the Thunderbirds may have played their last football game.
With 15 players graduating, they will have some big pads to fill next season.
That being said, Kramer also noted he had half-a-dozen offensive linemen returning in 2019 and joining them will be another six or more from the club’s bantam program, which just concluded its first year.
Since Westlock is now the only team in the Pembina region competing, Kramer noted they’re looking to expand their recruiting and pull some extra bodies from around the region.
“We had a roster of 30 and half of them were Grade 12s,” said Kramer. “We’re losing a big core of our team. We know we’ve got a lot of help coming up, but as coaches we realized we’ve got to push on recruiting this year. So we’re going to try to get into the outlying schools like in Onoway, Barrhead and Thorhild and promote the program.”
While high school football is done, for a few players there may yet be another visit to the gridiron. Kramer said the Thunderbirds have nominated top prospects Aidan Walker and Tristin Gross for the Nissan Kickoff Project — an all-star game of the top high school players in the country taking place in Edmonton on Grey Cup eve, Nov. 24. Kramer said he expects to know if they are named to the team later this month.
