Renegades run rampant over Badgers

Tyler Lowey
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore Community Football Association Badgers ran into a buzz saw named Duncan Critch during the Tier III Central Peewee Football League provincial championship.
“They had one guy who was their entire team,” said Badgers head coach Doug Thiessen. “He’s a powerful, big kid and we couldn’t stop him.”
Critch and the Bonnyville Renegades smoked the Badgers 72-8 in front of a boisterous crowd Nov. 12 at Crowther Memorial Junior High School field.
“He is a phenom; a prodigy,” boasted Renegades head coach Kevin Sartain. “Everyone up in Bonnyville knows it and we are waiting to see how far he goes.”
Critch was a runaway freight train. His combination of size, speed and strength made him nearly unstoppable.
“I couldn’t have done any of this today without my teammates,” said Critch, who was responsible for seven touchdowns. “I couldn’t run if I didn’t get any blocks and I couldn’t get any passing yards if my receivers didn’t get open and make plays.”
Whenever he wasn’t running over a Badgers defence that only yielded four defensive touchdowns in seven games, he was bombing them in the air with a passing game unlike any the Badgers faced this season.
Critch had a bevy of receivers to choose from; everyone was getting open.
His biggest passing play came on a flea-flicker, when he connected with Izahia Sartain on a 47-yard touchdown pass.
“I gotta give Strathmore credit. They played hard and they played to the end. They are not an easy team to play,” said Kevin Sartain. “The score probably doesn’t reflect it, but they should be proud of the way they played today.”
Vadin VanDenBossche took the opening kickoff untouched down the left sideline to the house. From there, the Renegades led 35-0 after the first quarter and 60-0 at half.
Midway through the second quarter, Ryan Brundige was in kickoff coverage for the Renegades when he was sent to the ground and didn’t get up.
Someone on the Badgers Kick return team picked up Brundige on a block and put him to the ground. The ambulance was called to the field.
“It was a clean hit, I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Apparently it was just like a muscle spasm in his back. The docs gave him some pills and he even came back to the field and helped us celebrate,” said Sartain, who started the peewee program four years ago.
The Badgers have been a second-half team this postseason. They have come out flat in the beginning, but regrouped to pour it on in the second half.
The Badgers opened the second half with a few inspiring runs from Austin McInnis and Jordan Stewart.
McInnis was cutting on a dime and giving nine cents change while Stewart was rumbling and tumbling towards first downs, breathing life into the Badgers bench and crowd.
Stewart ripped off a 29-yard touchdown scramble with 5:53 remaining in the fourth for the Badgers lone score.
“These kids played their heart out today. What more can I ask from them? It was an honour coaching them all year,” said Thiessen. “We played with class and it was an awesome season.”
The Renegades were simply on a different level than the Badgers. The Renegades defended their provincial title and extended their undefeated streak to 17 games. The Renegades also appeared in the Tier III Final in 2014, when they were shut out by the Sylvan Lake Bears 64-0.
For the Badgers, it was their first trip to a provincial final since they lost 50-0 to the Spruce Grove Cougars during the Tier IV final in 2010.
The SCFA hold their end-of-season organization awards tonight, Nov. 18, when they will recognize and hand out awards for individuals, teams and all-star team nominations.