Perhaps it was jitters playing in front of friends and family, perhaps it was the much larger opposition, but the upstart Bow Valley Wolverines fell short in their first Bow Valley game of the Big Sky Football Conference season this week.
The Wolverines dropped their home opener 20-0 to the Holy Trinity Titans Tuesday (Sept. 29) at Millennium Field.
“It was a lot like our game against Springbank. We got big eyes because we’ve got our girlfriends and parents and family here to watch. We had nine guys on the field for special teams. We weren’t stopping basic runs up the middle. These are all things we can attribute to our first home game and we hope by Saturday (Oct. 3) when we face Drumheller we can tighten that up,” said head coach Wade Buckley.
Other than a tough first quarter when the Titans (who play in a higher tier than the Wolverines) marched down the field on their opening drive, the Wolverines battled mightily, tightening their defence to iron trap levels and spreading the ball on offence with consistency. Unfortunately, the Titans defence was up to the task, and refused to be broken.
“Their first drive was impressive. They marched down the field, they ate eight minutes of clock up and put the ball in the endzone with little resistance. But our defence turned it around after that. I was impressed with our ability to have a short memory. That’s what you have to do in football. You have to flush that last play and move onto the next one,” Buckley said.
Offensively, quarterback Matt Mahler was solid, and many of the Wolverines’ weapons proved effective, but they simply could not push the ball across the line. They controlled much of the third quarter play, and showed incredible potential, if not execution.
“We kept knocking at the door, but didn’t knock the door down. We have the skill, but for some reason we couldn’t penetrate,” Buckley said.
Veteran D.J. Herbert said he expects a different outcome the next time the two teams face, and said a late hit on Dante Barbaro that knocked him out of the game upset the Wolverines.
“We should have been better in the first, but we picked it up in the second,” Herbert said. “We’d definitely pick it up the next time we play them. It will be a bit of a grudge match.”
Overall, Buckley said the game was another step forward for the strong team, which kept its record over .500 with a 36-7 win over High River.
“We made some good strides. We were really tested against a good team. They put up some points, probably not as many as they would have liked, but I thought our guys showed a lot more heart than they did in our big victory over High River,” Buckley said.
Against High River, the Wolverines overpowered their opposition, and were able to dress many of their younger players.
“The score was a reflection of the difference in skill the two teams had, but High River played hard all game,” said Buckley. “You feel badly for their team as their recruiting abilities have been hampered by the damage the flood has done to the town.”
The team plays Drumheller at 1:30 p.m at Millennium Field on Saturday, and Buckley said the team will be well prepared.
“It was perfect we played (Holy Trinity) before Drumheller because we got a taste of the power running game. That’s what Drumheller is going to do. They’re going to smash it, three or four lead blockers right down the middle … and try and get outside and run that sweep every time. Hopefully we can narrow the field against Drumheller. That’s our goal. Keep it narrow. Nothing deep,” Buckley said.
The Division 4 Wolverines have yet to beat a Division 3 team this season, but Buckley said the team is still improving. Team numbers are up to 51 players, including 17 Grade 9 players.
“We’ve seen a lot of progress. The Grade 9 players have shown up and some are consistent starters for us. They are head and shoulders above where they were in the preseason,” Buckley said.
He signaled out Mahler, Matt Brown and Aaron Shoup for their strong play.
“(Shoup) played great. He was all over the field. He was in on most tackles and just knew where to be.”
