Badgers blasted at McMahon by future playoff opponent

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

At least the Strathmore Community Football Association senior Badgers won’t have to look too far for game footage of their playoff opponent.
Playing in their final regular season game, the Badgers were tuned 61-13 to the Didsbury Dragons at McMahon Stadium.
The loss flip-flopped the final standings, as the Badgers will now have to travel to Didsbury for the semifinal instead of hosting the Dragons Oct. 21.
“We have the game tape and we will study that a lot, but for the most part, we just need to focus on the positives from the second half,” said Badgers head coach Sean Seafoot.
The Badgers trailed 35-0 at half and went on to lose the second half by a smaller margin, 27-13, on touchdowns from Luke Henry and Austin Drummond.
“We started to make some plays, get in the end zone and slow them down on defence,” said Seafoot. “But it was just too late; we dug ourselves too big of a hole.”
The Dragons carved up the Badgers with a passing game focused around their tight end. It was an offensive game plan the Badgers haven’t seen since the season opener Sept. 2 against the Innisfail Cyclones.
The Cyclones were also on hand at McMahon, as every team from the Mountainview Football Conference took part in a game at the home of the Stamps, excluding the Carstairs Tigers.
A scary moment for the Badgers occurred at the end of the first quarter. The Dragons were threatening to go up by 30, when the Badgers forced a fumble on their own three-yard line.
Brandon Middlemiss recovered the loose ball and got smoked in his own end zone.
He lay there motionless for some time, before sitting up while talking to trainers and coaches, and getting carted off the field on a stretcher for precautionary reasons.
Middlemiss was taken off in an ambulance and passed all medical tests. He even returned to watch the remaining few minutes in McMahon.
“It was really relieving to see him back,” said Seafoot. “I hope the kids took in the experience and don’t remember the result as much. It was fun to be on the same field that the Stamps use.”
Back in Strathmore, the bantam Badgers failed to get off the schneid this season, as they fell 52-12 to the Stettler Cougars Oct. 7 in their final regular season home game at Crowther Memorial Junior High School field.
#35 answered an opening drive score by the Cougars with a 60-yard touchdown run.
That was all the offence managed to put together, as they were outscored 46-6 the remainder of the way, as #14 punched in a touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
The Badgers will look to right the ship in their penultimate regular season tilt in Springbank Oct. 14. The Central Football League playoffs kick off Oct. 28.
The peewee Badgers continued their dominating play in the Central Peewee Football League by pulverizing the Innisfail Cyclones 40-0 in their second-last home game of the season Oct. 7 at CMJHS field.
The Badgers will look to keep the freight train moving when they travel to take on the Rocky Mountain House Rebels Oct. 14. The Badgers will wrap up the regular season at home against the Lacombe Explosion.