Mohawks stymied by Spartans

By Tyler Lowey, Times Reporter

The Strathmore Spartans wrapped up their regular season in what was the pinnacle of high school football.
Searching for their first home win of the season, the Spartans took it down to the wire to clip the Medicine Hat High School Mohawks 27-23 Oct. 13 at Strathmore High School field.
Taking place on Friday the 13th, this game certainly had its share of wackiness, as the Spartans became the first team in the past four years to topple the Mohawks in the regular season.
Redemption set the stage for the Spartans game-winning drive.
Earlier, in the second quarter, Spartans punter Dehl Shaw was looking to deliver a booming kick downfield on third down, when it was blocked by a defensive lineman and scooped up by Jarin Halladay for the easy touchdown to put the Mohawks up 13-0.
Later, Shaw would have another punt blocked.
With 59 seconds left, he got the chance to extract some revenge.
Shaw bust through the offensive line, getting both hands up to block the Mohawks latest punt attempt.
The Spartans recovered the ball on the Mohawks side of midfield, where Reid Jensen took over behind centre.
Noah Desjardins had started the game as quarterback, a complete role reversal from last week’s loss to the Brooks Composite High School Buffalos.
“Noah is a consistent passer and been the staple of our season,” said Darrell Hargrove, Spartans head coach. “He delivers the ball extremely well as you saw on the pass to (Kevin) Agboro.”
In the second quarter, Desjardins dialed up a 75-yard touchdown pass to Agboro, as he out-ran one defender on his way to pay dirt.
“We wanted to give them a different look. Reid scrambles a lot more out of the pocket,” said Hargrove. “We wanted to force some different plays and different looks on them to help open things up.”
Taking off from the pocket, Jensen carved his way into the red zone, when he connected for an eight-yard gain to Nathan Cayoutte on second and six with 32 remaining.
Back in the first quarter, Jensen was playing on the other side of the ball and his flying tackle broke up a potential passing play. Slow to get up, Jensen was grabbing at his right leg and walked with a considerable limp for the next quarter.
He never missed a snap, as Hargrove described his injury as a minor stinger, which he received from making that tackle and having a Mohawk receiver roll up on him.
A conduct penalty on the Mohawks cut the Spartans distance to goal in half, when Hargrove called for a pitch-option to the right for Jensen.
Jensen took the snap, rolled out, didn’t see anything open, so he bolted for the right pylon. Diving, he stretched out as far as he could, breaking the plane of the end zone, as he sailed out of bounds.
“This game was a testament to the work we put in day in, day out this season,” said Hargrove. “We battled a lot every day in practice and dealt through some injuries. All adversity we faced was reflected in that last quarter.”
There were still seven seconds on the clock as the Spartans kicked deep to Zach Campbell, who already registered a pair of touchdowns on the evening.
Campbell looked to peel up the right sideline, but was swarmed by a series of Spartans, drilling him out of bounds as the final buzzer sounded.
The crowd went nuts. The players celebrated like they had won the Super Bowl, realizing the magnitude of the win and took a team photo beneath the scoreboard.
The Rangeland Football League playoffs began Oct. 17, when the Spartans hosted the McCoy High School Colts (result not available as of press time). Back in week 2, the Spartans clowned the Colts 49-0 in Medicine Hat.
Should the Spartans eclipse the Colts, they would travel to Medicine Hat for a rematch with the Mohawks Oct. 20, as they look to reach provincials for the second straight year.