The Ecole Secondaire Notre Dame High School Cougars senior football team is ready to kick off their season this Friday.
The Cougars, led by head coach Ian Rattan, are looking good just days before the season opener, according to Rattan.
His expectations for his team this season are to get better every single day and continue to work hard.
“I’d be lying if I didn’t say we didn’t want to be in one of those games at the end of the season competing for a zone championship but realistically all we can ask for as coaches are that our kids are getting better every day and they’re becoming good human beings so when they leave our problem they’re good members of society,” he said.
He said they have a lot of good athletes but their offensive and defensive lines are still a work in progress as they only have a couple of linemen who are returning from last year. There are three Grade 12s on the offensive line and another suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.
“That was a big learning curve for a lot of the guys but it’s looking good right now. Our guys are starting to figure out what they need to do to be successful and they’re getting better every day,” he said. “That’s all we can really ask as coaches is just that constant improvement.”
In total, the Cougars will have eight players in their senior year and roughly 30 players in Grade 10 and 11.
“Everyone else is pretty much coming up from bantam or we have a couple of Grade 12s join this year that haven’t played the last couple of years but had played in the past,” he added. “A younger team which is nice and we’ll have a good chunk of our guys for the next couple of years which really helps when you’re trying to build some momentum.”
Leadership is important in football and Rattan said they have a solid group of leaders on the team who should help the team as the season goes on and becomes more of a grind. They also have three girls on the squad this year, including Lillian Watkinson who played for Team Alberta in the U18 Canadian National Championship this summer.
The Cougars play style he said they have a lot of talent in their ball skill positions but also in the offensive and defensive lines. They tend to be the bigger athletes and Rattan said it takes a lot of skill to play the positions.
”We want our kids to just know that there are ups and downs in life, there’s ups and downs in football and you can never get to high when you’re low on the field or in life… Success will happen but you got to reset and reload and every play’s got to be better, and every rep’s got to be better,” Rattan said.
The Cougars will play Stettler at home at 4:30 p.m. on Friday and Rattan said their opponents have a talented running back as well as some great athletes.
“It’s going to be a tough test. Stettler’s always one of the top teams in Tier III every single year in our province so we’re looking forward to having them and Sylvan Lake back in the 12-man league. Looking at them it’s no easy games they’re going to be really tough, really physical, and we got to bring our lunch pail and be ready to roll,” he explained.