Badgers show heart, not enough to win finals

By Adelle Ellis, Times Reporter

In an end to their seasons that no one wanted to come so soon, both the bantam and peewee Strathmore Community Football Association (SCFA) Badgers teams lost in their respective B division league finals.
Playing in Red Deer at Great Chief Park Nov. 2, both teams played very strong defensive games with all the heart they could muster.
Playing against the Notre Dame Jr Cougars, the bantam Badgers played up and down the field, making some big hits and completing several interceptions in the strong defensive game. With no points scored by either team in the second half of the game, the Badgers fell 24-12 to earn second place in their division but lost out on the chance to attend provincials.
“The kids were positive the whole game and they stayed in it until the very end. I couldn’t be any prouder of them and how they played,” said coach Greg Zaugg.
Meanwhile, the peewee Badgers played the strongest game they could with only 17 players against the Red Deer Hornets 36-player team. They eventually lost 26-12 in a style of game opposite that of the bantams, where the score clock read 0-0 at half time and no points were scored until the second half of the game.
“We played extremely well … we were the smallest team (in the league) player number wise and the second smallest team size wise and we came in second in the league, so I’ll take that as a pretty good year,” said coach Doug Thiessen, who added that the Badgers scored two touchdowns against the Hornets in their final game, a feat no other team has accomplished this season.
The coaches remarked how this year both teams had the best camaraderie possible among the players and they both had the best chemistry teams can possibly have.
The SCFA will host their year-end banquet on Nov. 23 at the Strathmore Civic Centre to recap the year and to hand out the season’s awards.