After a strong start and a spectacular finish, the Westlock Thunderbirds football team came to a well-earned 16-13 victory over the Vermilion Marauders last Friday night.
In what was undoubtedly the upset of the season in the Wheatland Football League, the third-place Thunderbirds put the previously undefeated Marauders in their place. Vermilion is currently ranked as the seventh-best Tier IV football in the province
“I’m proud of the guys — they put in the work and it paid off,” coach Jon Kramer said after the game. “It’s fun to watch them reach their potential.”
The game started off slowly, with the first quarter going back and forth several times, but with neither team able to punch through the defence to find the end zone.
That changed quickly in the second quarter, however. Thunderbirds quarterback Brett Snell punch through the Marauders’ defence on the second play, running in a 55-yard touchdown to put the first points on the board. A successful conversion gave Westlock a 7-0 lead.
The Marauders weren’t going to take that without a fight, however, and quickly went on the offensive. The T-Birds shut them down at first, until the Marauders were forced to punt from their own 30-yard line. They fumbled on the play, but recovered and were able to run it forward for a first down.
At that point the momentum changed quickly, with the Marauders running in a 50-yard touchdown shortly thereafter. A failed conversion mean the Thunderbirds held on to a diminished 7-6 lead.
The Marauders kept up a blistering offensive, keeping up the pressure long enough to score another touchdown with just 48 seconds left. They tried for a two-point conversion, but were unsuccessful leaving them with a 12-7 lead.
The Thunderbirds came out rejuvenated in the second half, shutting down Vermilion’s offence but struggling to find the end zone themselves. The quarter ended with the Marauders intercepting what could have been a touchdown pass, but being forced down in the end zone for a two-point safety, shortening the lead to 12-9.
The fourth quarter saw both teams pushing hard, with no luck until the momentum shifted toward the Thunderbirds with about six minutes left.
Vermilion was pushed back to their own 20 yard line, and it was third down with 40 yards to go thanks to some impressive defensive work by the T-Birds.
The Marauders punted, and the T-Birds ran it back to the Marauders’ 40 yard line. They marched it up for a first down with 25 yards to go, at which point Jesse Plamondon made an impressive catch and run the ball up to within a yard of the goal line.
All it took was one play for the T-Birds to score the winning touchdown, which with a successful conversion gave them the 16-13 lead they would hold on to until the end of the game.
With 2:30 left on the clock, though, there was still plenty of time for Vermilion to put a run together and regain the lead. Fortunately for Westlock, though, the Marauders fumbled the kick return and Westlock as able to recover.
At that point the visibly frustrated Marauders just couldn’t put anything together and the Thunderbirds held on for the win. “I’m just on Cloud 9 right now,” Snell said after the game. “We just didn’t give up, even when they had the lead.”
The team’s fortunes this game began in the first quarter, which this season has been a tough one for the T-Birds.
“In previous games we just couldn’t show up in the first quarter, but today we came out to play,” he said.
For Kramer, what made the difference is knowing what plays the Marauders rely most heavily on and having and answer for them. “They guys just recognized the plays early on — you could tell before the ball was snapped they kind of knew what was coming,” he said.
The victory won’t change the playoff schedule — this Friday Westlock will head up to Athabasca to face the Pacers, which will be a challenge since the Thunderbirds lost both the regular-season matchups.
“We match up very different with Athabasca than with these guys. We know Athabasca will give us a good, hard game.”
Finishing the regular season on such a high note, however, puts the playoffs in perspective — if the Thunderbirds can beat the first-place undefeated team, they can beat anyone in the league. All it will take is a lot of hard work at practice this week.
“They’ve already been working hard, but they’ll definitely take it to the next level after this,” Kramer said.
