Justin Fedun rushed for 109 yards in a losing cause as the Notre Dame Cougars dropped a 28-17 decision to the Cochrane Cobras in high school football exhibition play Friday at Great Chief Park.
Cougars quarterback Keegan MacDonald completed nine of 15 passes for 117 yards and scored a fourth-quarter touchdown on a six-yard run. He also tossed a 26-yard scoring pass to Jesse Kowalchuk, while teammate Eric Meraw booted a 25-yard field goal and two converts.
“It was an exhibition game. We wanted to see where our strengths and weaknesses are,” said Cougars head coach Gino Castellan, whose Central Alberta League team is on a bye week. “We changed our coaching staff around tonight to get a feel for every aspect of the game. It was good for everyone, the kids and the coaches, and we didn’t play too bad.”
The Cougars are unranked among Football Alberta high school tier 2 schools, while the Cobras are No. 2 among tier 3 teams.
“Cochrane has a very good program,” said Castellan. “I’ve known Rob McNab and Bruce O’Niel for 20 years. They’re very good coaches and run a very good program.”
The visitors piled up 388 yards of offence, including 242 through the air.
“We didn’t quit tonight, we could have gone down 20 to 30 points,” said Castellan. “We did some good things and that’s what we’re going to build on. We’re going to show the kids our weaknesses so we can fix them. That’s why we play these games.”
The Hunting Hills Lightning will host Grande Prairie St. Joseph’s in another exhibition game tonight at 7 p.m. at Great Chief Park.
• Austin Rosland rushed for 153 yards and scored three touchdowns as the host Stettler Wildcats ripped the Rocky Mountain House Rebels 28-0 in Central Alberta League tier 3/4 action Thursday.
Jeremy Kirk added a major, Kyle Lawrence contributed a two-point convert and Garrett Burns had a convert to round out the scoring.
Wildcats quarterback Jordan Lane completed three of 11 passes for 79 yards. The Rebels managed just 85 yards of total offence.