It was a sweet victory for the Westlock Thunderbirds football team last Friday night, as the rival Athabasca Pacers left the field scoreless.
Westlock’s 26-0 win in the Wheatland Football League during the annual Friday Night Lights game improves their regular-season record to 3-1 and puts the Thunderbirds top of their division.
“I’m excited for the guys. Athabasca has had our number for the last couple of years so a lot of our veterans were really hungry for this one, more than any of the other games we’ve played,” he said.
The win was especially sweet, since the last time the two teams met, the Pacers scraped out 34-30 win to earn the league title — leaving most Thunderbirds hungry for a little payback. Many spent the off-season keeping up their training and watching gameplay videos to stay sharp, something Kramer said wasn’t typical for this club.
The energy on the defensive line was palpable during the most recent match, with the players committed to keeping the Pacers out of the end zone altogether.
“The defence certainly led the way. They had a hunger to keep the guys off the scoreboard, and we didn’t push that as coaches, but they had that hunger there for the second half,” Kramer said.
The game was in Westlock’s favour the whole time, with the boys coming out to an early 14-0 lead with a 12-yard run from Jesse Plamondon and an impressive 54-yard dash from Robert Bokenfohr.
There was a delay early in the second quarter after an Athabasca player was injured — he left the field in an ambulance, but Kramer said that was just a precaution and he was in good enough shape to join the team at a restaurant later in the evening.
In the third quarter, Josh Dittmer and Joe Borris ran 13 and 30 yards respectively, which with missed conversions gave the Thunderbirds their other 12 points for the 26-0 final.
Kramer said while it’s good to see the success in running, something the team prides itself on, there is a lot of work to be done on the passing side of things — although the wet weather the last couple of games hasn’t done them any favours.
“We know we really have to work on our passing game, and there are so many facets to it it’s tricky,” he said. “The last few games we had rain, and that really affects a lot in terms of the centre getting the snap back, the quarterback getting his hands on the laces, and the catch, too, is a lot trickier.”
Despite the wet and chilly weather, though, hundreds of fans came to cheer the team on in the Friday Night Lights game.
The game started at 8 p.m. after dark, but a dozen industrial lights set up at the field’s edge lit everything up.
Having the kind of community support required to pull something like that off — countless volunteer hours went into setting up and tearing down the lights — speaks volumes about the significance of this program in the community.
“The whole motivation for coaching is just to enrich these young guys’ lives where we can. You can do that without the lights, but the atmosphere adds so much to the experience,” he said.
The Thunderbirds will be back in Westlock this Friday for an exhibition game against the Holy Rosary Raiders, which despite not having any bearing on playoff position will be very important.
“They’re ranked first in the province; they’re the best of the best,” Kramer said. “It will be good to gear us up for the second half of the season and we’ll see how good is good.”
Kickoff for that game will be at 5 p.m. at the Westlock Elementary School field.
