Badgers pull out improbable comeback

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

Not even National Football League quarterbacks Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Russell Wilson could have pulled off the unlikely comeback the Strathmore Community Football Association senior Badgers did Saturday evening.
The Badgers owned crunch time as they came from behind to tie the Innisfail Cyclones 42-42 in Mountain View Football Conference play at Crowther Memorial Junior High School (CMJH) field.
Trailing 42-26 with 2:26 remaining to a team that hasn’t dropped a regular season game in two years, the Badgers received the two lucky bounces they needed to orchestrate an improbable comeback.
“That’s why I always tell these guys to play all 80 minutes, because you just never know,” said Badgers head coach Sean Seafoot. “They just showed what happens when you actually do.”
The Badgers (3-0) might have scored the opening touchdown – on another lucky bounce during a punt return – but the Cyclones (1-0-1) controlled the scoreboard for the majority of the game.
With less than a minute remaining, Zach Hiscock peeled off a 30-yard run to set up a two-yard touchdown dive from quarterback Reid Jensen. Down 42-33, the Badgers had to go for a two-point conversion for a chance to tie.
Having already botched a two-point play earlier, Jensen found receiver Austin Drummond wide open in the left side of the end zone. This wasn’t the last time the two would hook up down the stretch.
Next, the Badgers needed to recover the onside kick.
With 40 seconds remaining, the Badgers lined up for the onside kick, drilled the ball into the ground, it bounced off a Cyclones’ kickoff receiver, making it a free ball. Sam Ropson was the right man in the right place for the Badgers, as the ball bounced backwards into his arms.
“We have never practiced that,” said Seafoot, whose Badgers improved to 2-0-1. “We were just lucky that we had players on the field with experience that knew what to do in that moment.”
Now with the ball, the Badgers still had to drive 55 yards and complete another two-point convert to tie.
That’s when Jensen’s escapability, creativity and athletic ability took over.
Jensen took the snap, ran left, nothing. Forced to run backwards while in hot pursuit, he pivoted, and heaved a prayer down the field, hitting a wide-open Drummond in stride down the left sideline. Drummond took off running and dove into the end zone as the stands and the Badgers bench went berserk.
Trailing 42-40 with a tick over 30 seconds remaining, the Badgers required another two-point convert to complete the comeback.
Seafoot called a timeout and diagramed a play for his quarterback Jensen, who broke his nose earlier in the game.
Jensen took the snap, went through his progressions and realized nobody was open. He tried busting it up the gut, but there were no holes. So he turned his shoulder pads and headed towards the corner of the end zone when he was caught in a Cyclone sandwich. He was pancaked. His helmet popped off, but just before his compressed body hit the ground, the ball squirted out towards the goal line. Thankfully, Drummond was in the neighbourhood once again and pounced on the football, rolling into the end zone. Tie game.
“Reid played awesome. He’s really fun to watch out there, he’s a great athlete and I am going to have fun coaching him the next couple of years,” said Seafoot.
CMJH field turned into bedlam. Seafoot had to corral his troops and calm them down because there were still 21.7 seconds remaining and they had to kick the ball to the Cyclones.
While Jensen was the most creative and intuitive player, the Cyclones boasted the biggest scoring threat in senior Drake Carson.
Carson already registered a punt return touchdown to go with a receiving touchdown. He was still a threat to score with 20 seconds left.
The Cyclones didn’t get anywhere with the kickoff. Quarterback Justin Woodruff had two cracks at connecting with Carson on deep routes, but they couldn’t muster anything up.
Unfortunately for the fans in attendance, regular season games end after regulation, even if there is a tie.
Entering the game, the Cyclones were on a two-year regular season winning streak. That’s now changed to an unbeaten streak.
“We are happy coming out with the tie,” said Seafoot. “If the rest of our season goes as planned, I’m sure we will see them again in the playoffs.”
Up next for the Badgers is the Didsbury Dragons at 1 p.m. Saturday (Sept. 24) at CMJH Field.

 

Bantam Badgers lose home opener
It wasn’t the home opener the bantam Badgers dreamt of, as they were dumped 52-32 by the Rocky Mountain House Rebels in Central Football League play Saturday at CMJH field.
“We really struggled in the first half recognizing their sweeps and outside runs,” said Badgers’ head coach Brad Middlemiss. “We tried making adjustments at half but they are a well-coached team and they kept going at us.”
This was the season opener for both teams. The bantam squad from Innisfail folded prior to the season, resulting in a bye last week for both sides.
While the scoreboard wasn’t the nicest at times, the scariest moment came with 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter when John Gibbons was making a play for the end zone and got stapled to the ground.
Lying on his back, trainers were ushered over and it was determined that an ambulance was needed. The game was put on pause for a half hour.
Paramedics took Gibbons away on a stretcher for safety precautions.
“We just wanted to be safe. We weren’t sure if it was a neck thing, collarbone or a shoulder injury,” said Middlemiss. “When you get an injury in an area like that, the best thing to do is to be careful.”
Gibbons’ results came in during the senior game, and they revealed a broken left collarbone. He was shortly released from the hospital.
From that point on, nearly every second play, somebody had to get helped off the field. Luckily, there were no other serious injuries.
The Badgers will travel to Springbank to take on the Phoenix on Sept. 24.

 

Peewee Badgers win again
The peewee Badgers improved to 2-0 following their 28-6 drumming of the Red Deer Hornets in Central Peewee Football League action Saturday morning at CMJH field.
“I thought we did really well out there today,” said Badgers’ head coach Doug
Theissen. “We were onto our third quarterback; we made a lot of mistakes but we had a lot of fun out there too.”
It was a battle for the line of scrimmage as both offensive and defensive lines marched up and down the field with the running game.
“We played a super great defensive game and our offence really got rolling once we figured them out,” said Theissen. “They kept flooding the outside with defenders so we started running up the gut for 15 yards at a time.”
With the game out of reach, Theissen and his coaching staff took the opportunity to reward one of his blue-collar players.
Jack Warrack, typically a lineman, lined up on the outside and caught a 10-yard touchdown pass.
“It’s fun being able to get those guys touchdowns. It’s something we said we were going to do all year. They’re always doing the grimy jobs so now they get to have fun on the other side of the ball,” said Theissen.
The Badgers head to Rocky Mountain House to tango with the Rebels on Sept. 24.