Badgers season well underway

By Wyatt Anton Times Contributor

Alberta Minor Football’s Central Football League is well into their season now, and the Strathmore Community Football Association Badgers bantam and peewee teams have each passed the halfway mark in their respective schedules.
The Badgers bantam team is approaching game five of their seven game regular season. The bantam team is 2-2 following a chilly 16-14 loss in their last game against the Hunting Hills Jr. Raiders at home last weekend in Strathmore.
The team’s head coach, Greg Zaugg, called the game a strong defensive battle with each team doing well to contain the other into the fourth quarter, when a Badgers error allowed the Raiders to gain the lead.
Overall, Zaugg said he’s happy with how the team of 13- to 15-year-olds is playing. With only about a quarter of last year’s players returning, many having moved up to the high school team, the older players are taking the lead.
“Our senior players have really stepped up and helped bring the younger players on board,” said Zaugg. “Overall the team is functioning well together; our defense is really tight.”
The bantam Badgers will again get the home field advantage as they face off against the league’s No. 2 Sylvan Lake Lions this Saturday at Crowther Memorial Junior High School (CMJHS) football field. Kick-off is at 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, the peewee Badgers enter week six of their season this weekend. The 10- to 12-year-olds have brought their average to an even .500 following a pair of wins in their last two games, each of them against the Olds Huskies.
Doug Thiessen, head coach for the peewee Badgers, said the team played exceptionally well in their last game, trouncing the Huskies 31-6 despite the lousy weekend weather.
“We had a good lead and we got to put all three of our quarterbacks (Anthony Laycock, Colby King and James Langlois) on the field,” Thiessen said.
While each of the quarterbacks were able to stretch their legs, Ethan Holloway ran away with the game. The 12-year-old Badgers fullback from Siksika was unstoppable, carrying the ball into the end zone four times, including a 55-yard rushing touchdown.
“We had to stop handing him (Ethan) the ball and give someone else an opportunity to get a touchdown,” said Thiessen.
That someone else was Logan Oryschak, who scored the team’s fifth touchdown and gave the team an extra point on the conversion.
This coming weekend, the peewee Badgers will be getting ready for a rematch, facing off against the Lacombe Explosion on Saturday and trying to even the score after a disappointing Week 2 loss against them.
“We will have an almost full roster this time around,” said Thiessen, noting the three peewee Badgers currently on the injured list. “The first time we played them we were short players and the players we did have were exhausted in the heat.”
Saturday’s game time for the peewee Badgers is 11:30 a.m. at Crowther Memorial Junior High School field.