It’ll be a battle of the undefeated on the gridiron Saturday afternoon.
The hometown Central Alberta Buccaneers will put their perfect 3-0 record on the line against the expansion Cold Lake Fighter Jets, who also haven’t lost in 2019 Alberta Football League play.
The Bucs are coming off a 21-0 win over the Airdrie Irish on the road, while the Fighter Jets roasted the defending national champion Fort McMurray Monarchs 49-0. Cold Lake has outscored opponents 106-27 this season, while the Bucs have put up 90 points and allowed 49.
Bucs GM Vince Roth said the momentum of the upstart Fighter Jets isn’t all that unexpected, as they are basically a reincarnation of the Lloydminster Vandals, who were a part of the league last year.
“They’ve brought in some heavy recruiting that we’re used to seeing from the Monarchs and they are looking like they’re a pretty talent heavy team, should make for a good tilt,” Roth said.
He noted that although the Bucs defence shone in the shutout in Airdrie, the offence still has some kinks to work out if they want to pick up another win on Saturday.
“A lot of credit to our defence. We had a lot of bye week issues and rust. There were some miscues on offence. I think we should have as an offence performed much better than we did. But we put up more points than them, so that’s the important thing at the end of the day,” said Roth, who also plays offensive line for the Bucs.
“I think our receivers are getting things down and our running backs are figuring it out, so this week we had a good practice already… the buy-in is starting to happen and we’re only improving as a team.”
It will also be an unusual game time for the Bucs Saturday, as they kick off in the afternoon at 2 p.m at Setters Place. They hoped to draw a few more fans in for a full experience by hosting their annual Pub Night after the game. They typically host it in the offseason.
“We saw a nice opportunity to pair up our Pub Night with a game– in the past, we’ve had our Pub Night in the preseason,” Roth said.
“Because of that a lot of fans have missed the opportunity to join us. Hopefully, a lot of fans at the game will buy tickets at the game for the Pub Night.”
The Pub Night will be at Bo’s Bar and Stage at 7 p.m., following the game.
Email sports tips to Byron Hackett
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