Quiet weekend on the local field for Badgers

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The Crowther Memorial Junior High School Field lay empty this past weekend with all three Strathmore Community Football Association Badgers programs inactive.
Both the bantam and peewee teams were off on a bye week and the senior Badgers were scheduled to play in Carstairs, but the Tigers forfeited on Oct. 14.
Apparently, the Tigers were missing players due to injuries and prior commitments, but the senior Badgers also hammered the Tigers 124-0 the week prior. The forfeit all but wraps up the No. 1 seed for the Badgers heading into the playoffs in two weeks.
The senior Badgers finished 5-0-1 in the regular season and clinched home field in the playoffs. With a bye week this week, the Badgers are still a little uncertain who their first-round opponent will be.
“It looks like it’s probably going to be Didsbury in round one. There is still a chance that the third and fourth seeds can change this weekend,” said Badgers head coach Sean Seafoot.
The Badgers dumped the Dragons 38-0 back in Week 4. The Bowden Blazers are the other team battling for third place. The Badgers clubbed them 63-0 in Week 2. The Innisfail Cyclones currently sit in second place as the Badgers hold the edge in the tiebreaker. The two hooked up for the most exciting game of the year, which saw them play to a 42-42 tie.
One thing is for sure: the Mountain View Football Conference title will have to run through Strathmore and CMJHS Field.
“It’s easy to look ahead to the finals, but we need to focus on taking it one game at a time,” said Seafoot.
The semifinals are set for Oct. 29 with the finals, permitting the Badgers are a part of them, would go Nov. 5.

 

Tough break
Unfortunately, despite the calm weekend, there was still a major injury to the peewee team.
Sean Grill, fullback and outside linebacker, broke his femur during a practice Thursday night (Oct. 13).
“It happened during a scrimmage,” said Badgers head coach Doug Theissen, who has coached six years with SCFA. “It was a complete freak accident. He was playing defence, someone was blocking him, he got pushed backwards and in the process of going to the ground, someone else got tripped onto him and landed on his leg the wrong way. I have never seen this injury before.”
He was taken to the Calgary children’s hospital where he had surgery Friday and was released Sunday. During his time at the hospital, a few Calgary Stampeders stopped in to check on him.
Wide receiver Simon Charbonneau-Campeau and former Stampeder Jabari Arthur stopped by to try to cheer him up. Arthur now works at the children’s hospital and heard about Grill’s gruesome injury. He contacted Charbonneau-Campeau, who experienced the same injury as Grill, and the two popped by to check on him. They talked football and Charbonneau-Campeau was able to show him his scars from the same injury he once had and helped cheer him up.
With one regular season game remaining, the Badgers head up to Olds to take on the Huskies (1-3). Thiessen’s crew has sewn up top spot, so he will use this game to work players into positions they haven’t played yet this season.
“I want to get guys reps at spots they don’t normally play and get them experience, so in case anything happens in the playoffs, we will be able to stick guys into those spots and they will have an idea what to do,” he said.
The peewee Badgers (5-0) are sitting comfortably in first place and will travel to Olds to battle the Huskies in their regular season finale. The Central Peewee Football League playoffs begin Oct. 29. Should the Badgers keep on winning, they would host provincials in November.

 

Regular season finale
The bantam Badgers (2-1) conclude their Central Football League regular season in a rematch with the Titans at McMahon Stadium Oct. 22 (6:30 p.m.). The Badgers and Titans squared off in an exhibition match Oct. 15, in which the Titans dumped the Badgers 40-0.