When Robert Purcell patrolled the defensive line for Bow Valley Wolverines, he was the type of player that struck fear into the hearts of his high school opponents.
Approaching 300 pounds, he enjoyed his role of crushing the opposition and feasted on smaller teams.
But now, as the Bow Valley Wolverines’ defensive coordinator, he’s got to whip a smaller line into shape against oversized opponents.
“I thought overall, for this size of team, we’ve competed really well today (June 13). Size-wise, this is probably one of the smallest teams I’ve ever seen,” Purcell said. “When I played, I was one of the big boys, so to see, I think our biggest kid is 180 lbs, it’s a little bit different. It’s about finding heart and a reason to come out.”
In a friendly match against Springbank for the annual Brewster Bowl, Purcell was impressed with the team’s performance against a much larger opponent.
“I thought overall, for the size of our team, we competed really well,” Purcell said.
Utilizing a number of young Grade 8 students from Lawrence Grassi Middle School, the Wolverines showed promise, leading offensive coordinator Wade Buckley to state the team will be much improved over last year in league play come September.
“I think we’re going to be competitive. We have some good players. We’re building from a good chunk,” said Buckley. “We will fine tune our offence and defence, and we have our sights set a little higher this year; we should score more points and have less points scored against. Things are looking up.”
“We are definitely starting at a better spot than last year. I thought the rookies played with a lot of heart,” he said. “Our work in practice really showed up on the field. Our offensive line looked dominant. When we had all five starters in, they just looked like a brick wall.”
The game gave Buckley a chance to get a good look at the depth in his younger players, and even though several barely cracked the five-foot, 110 lbs mark, they showed good sense on the field.
“We just wanted to get our rookies some experience. We have a lot of Grade 8 players coming out from Lawrence Grassi. It was good to get them to feel the speed of the game, turn it up a little bit from our practices. They brought a lot of energy and intensity to our practices, but playing games at speed is a whole new level,” Buckley said.
He heaped praise on veteran Luke Murphy, who was a force on offence, but noted there was still a lot to work on over the summer.
“We’ve definitely got to work on the arm tackles. There were a ton of arm tackles and we’ve got to be more aggressive in our tackling. We didn’t set the edge very well and that’s something we’ll have to improve on. On offence, we dropped the ball way too many times,” Buckley said.
The Bow Valley plays in a league where many of their opponents begin playing football at a much earlier age, so there is a longer learning curve. But Buckley said when he played for the Wolverines, more importantly, he learned more about himself.
“I learned a lot about myself when I played football, in the context of sports and life in general. I hope these kids get a sense of camaraderie, building social circles, just challenging themselves physically and mentally. Football is a great sport to do that in,” Buckley said.
The team will release its schedule later this month, and expect to play at least one game at McMahon Stadium in Calgary.
