Since the Bow Valley Wolverines lost their development league four years ago, their seasons have followed a familiar pattern: get destroyed early on, followed by a remarkable turnaround.
This year appears no different, as the Wolverines dropped a 33-7 decision to Taber on Saturday (Sept. 7).
Every year, head coach Chad McClenaghan’s job is to help the boys reach their full potential as fast as possible, and even though his team couldn’t tackle at all during the first half against Taber, he still sees glimmers of promise with this year’s edition.
“We started the game poorly, down 21-0 after the first quarter. That happens when you’re so young. You’ve got nine new starters on defence, Taber had already played a game. You can give all of the excuses, but we just weren’t ready after four practices to have a game,” McClenaghan said. “Our tackling was really poor and blocking wasn’t great. There’s a lot of stuff you naturally get better at, but we just weren’t there yet.”
The Wolverines settled down after the first quarter, improving slowly as the match went on. Tristan Berendt took on a huge role and settled the team down.
“He started his first game on defence and was player of the game. He intercepted a ball and ran it back for a touchdown, led our team on tackles, leading receiver on offence. It was pretty remarkable to see the change in his game from last year to this year,” McClenaghan said.
Several other players distinguished themselves as the game went on, McClenaghan said. Zak Jantz improved his play at safety, using his remarkable speed to pose a threat; Aiden Cassie showed he’ll be a large part of the Wolverines team this year and Taylor Hannah also played well.
The team travels to Lethbridge this weekend for their second match of the year, which is their last warm-up before their first match on home soil on Friday (Sept. 20). Coach McClenaghan said the game plan against Lethbridge is improvement.
“I want to see improvement every game. We got that with our game against Taber, but I want to make sure it’s consistent,” McClenaghan said.
With that pace, the Wolverines should be a force to contend with come playoff time.
“It’s a marathon, not a sprint,” McClenaghan said.
