Raiders 34 Cougars 9
The Lindsay Thurber Raiders went into their Central Alberta High School Football League meeting with the Notre Dame Cougars looking to find any kind of offence.
They finally found the end zone for the first time in four games at 11:23 of the first quarter and it was like the world had been lifted off their shoulders.
The Raiders used the momentum of Greg Fowler’s 34-yard touchdown run to down the Cougars 34-9 before 725 fans at Great Chief Park.
“That first touchdown was huge, it was like all the pressure was lifted off us and everything seemed to come that much easier,” said Raiders Grade 11 quarterback Wilson Lougheed. “It was a bit deflating in those first three games, but we couldn’t let it get us down, we knew had to play hard every play and want it.”
Raiders head coach Dave Smith said the whole team gave a sigh of relief when Fowler scored and Brody Slagman kicked the convert to make the score 9-7.
“Everyone on the sidelines became that much more believers and when we went ahead they were even more believers,” he said.
Slagman kicked the first of his two field goals at 1:44 of the second quarter and the Raiders were ahead for good.
Smith made a few changes to the offence, including adding Kyle Liptak as offensive coordinator, and inserting Elliot Mahood as the starting tailback. He also made a couple of switches on the offensive line.
“Nothing drastic, we just simplified a couple of things and made sure the guys knew what blocks they had to make,” said Smith.
“Elliot is more of a power back and once we got the running game going it opened things up,” said Lougheed, who connected on eight of 12 passes for 113 yards and a touchdown.
“The thing is we decided to play like we can throw and that opened everything up,” added Smith.
Mahood finished with 119 yards rushing on 16 carries and scored on an eight-yard run in the second quarter and on a 61-yard romp in the fourth quarter. Fowler carried four times for 49 yards.
Houston Flaman, who had five receptions for 95 yards, scored the other LTCHS major on a 31-yard pass from Lougheed at 11:38 of the second quarter, which gave the Raiders a 24-9 lead at the half.
Slagman, who kicked field goals of 17 and 41 yards added four converts.
Nathan Stearns scored the Cougars major to open the scoring at 3:15 of the first quarter on a 28 yard pass from Kieran Pruden.
Dario Viveros added the convert and the Cougars added a safety when Lougheed slipped in the end zone at 4:27 of the first quarter.
Dale MacDonald led the Cougars with 141 yards on 27 carries while Stearns had two catches for 57 yards. The Cougars saw their record slip to 0-4.
“We need a lot of work . . . a lot of work,” said Cougars head coach Gino Castellan. “But we have only six Grade 12s and it shows on the field as we take a lot of mental penalties. It’s one step forward and two back. But we will get better, no question.
“Plus I thought they played well. They’re not a bad team.”
The game was called with 2:54 remaining in the final quarter when an unidentified Notre Dame player received an undisclosed injury and was taken to hospital for “precautionary measures.”
Lightning 24 Trojans 19
In the biggest game of the night the Hunting Hills Lightning ran their record to 5-0 with a 24-19 win over the Trojans (3-1) in Camrose.
Tyler Lewis led the Lightning with two touchdowns, a field goal and three converts while rushing for 74 yards. Jon Boutin, who had 30 yards on the ground, added the other major. Stas McPhail rushed for 81 yards.
Tylor Henry and Jon Heidebrecht scored touchdowns for the Trojans while Heidebrecht had two converts and a 49-yard field goal. The Trojans also had a safety.
Heidebrecht had 116 yards rushing on 13 carries.
Lakers 24 Rebels 6
The homestanding Sylvan Lake Lakers ran their record to 3-2 with a 24-6 win over the Rocky West Central Rebels.
Jeff Watson, on a 27-yard run, Bud Kriekle on a one-yard plunge, and Nathan Tarling, on a one-yard romp, scored touchdowns for the Lakers while Callum Smith added a 31-yard field goal and three converts.
Jesse Cooling scored the West Central touchdown on a 38-yard pass.
Kyle Winder had 69 yards rushing on 10 carries for the Lakers while Watson had 56 on 10 tries and Tyler Ledwos 53 on three. Ledwos also caught six passes for 85 yards.
Cooling led the Rebels with 26 yards rushing on 10 carries and caught two passes for 73 yards.
• League action continues Thursday when Lacombe visits Wetaskiwin in a game that was postponed from Monday because of the fire at the Lacombe school.
On Friday Sylvan Lake visits Hunting Hills at 4 p.m. and Stettler takes on Notre Dame at 7:30 p.m. while Lindsay Thurber is at Rocky.
drode@www.reddeeradvocate.com