Scott MacDonald sees Record Attendance

Over 2000 people through the gates Saturday

It was standing room only as the Bonnyville Amateur Football Asssociation (BAFA) celebrated their annual Scott MacDonald Memorial Football event on Saturday with record attendance. It’s estimated that over 2000 people came to Walsh Field to enjoy the triple header football action. All three BAFA teams, the Peewee Renegades, Bantam Bandits, and High School Voyageurs took the field against the top Lloydminster teams; the Colts, Chargers and Holy Rosary.

The Peewee Renegades took the field first and set the tone for the afternoon; no mercy. The Renegades are no strangers to the Colts; last season, the Colts were the only team to beat the Renegades during the regular season. The Renegades had their revenge before last season was over with a meeting at the League Championship; Renegades were successful then and they were successful Saturday afternoon with a 55-14 win over the Colts.

“The truth is our kids execute very well. They execute their plays, they execute their positions; it’s very impressive to see,” Head Coach of the Renegades, Kevin Sartain says his squad was in full form at the Scott MacDonald.  “I betcha we threw for 250 yards! We had four receiving touchdowns.” The Renegades scored eight touchdowns from seven different players, a feat Coach Sartain is very happy to boast.

Sartain says the boys will be working on cleaning up their game before next weekend, “we had some problems with penalties.” The team saw four touchdowns called back, Sartain’s philosophy is no job is worth doing, unless you do it right. So although he felt the boys did amazing and came out with a huge victory; there’s still room for improvement. “Yes, winning is important and winning is great, but the truth is you have to know how to play the game right.”

The Bantam Bandits will also be working on clean up their play, says Head Coach of the Bandits, Mickey Fagnan. The squad had a tough loss the weekend prior to the St. Paul Lions; a lot of it due to key mistakes, callbacks, and penalties. This weekend the team was more successful on the board, recording a 28-25 win over the Chargers; however, Coach Fagnan says the team saw some penalties that could’ve flipped the game the other way. Coach would like to see the squad tight and clean and will be focusing on that over the week.

“We won, 28-25, came from behind in the last half of the forth quarter to come out victorious! It was a very exciting game, the only one more exciting was the High School game,” Coach Fagnan says the club had a little extra in them thanks to memories from last year’s League Finals; the last time they met the Chargers. “We came from behind last year to win with the same point spread, it was deja vu for the Chargers,” laughs Fagnan.

The game went back and forth throughout, says Fagnan, “we went on the board first with a 70 yard drive from Mason Sartain. We tested their speed and outspeeded them, but the came back and it was a trade. We went back and forth until the very end.”

Hands down the Voyageurs – Holy Rosary game was unreal! I’ve never seen anything like it! – Kevin Sartain Head Coach Bonnyville Renegades

The High School game had the crowd on edge, the entire battle… and battle it was. The score flipped faster than pancakes on a ferris wheel, the Voyageurs opened the scoring with the top seeded Holy Rosary answering and then jumping ahead with two additional touchdowns. The Voyageurs came out of the half with fire, putting up three unanswered touchdowns to take the lead with a 28-21 score. Holy Rosary answered with a touchdown, while the Voyageurs were able to hold off the lead by blocking the kick, making a 28-27 game for Bonnyville.

There were some key mistakes that flipped the game in favour of Lloyd late in the forth, Holy Rosary scored taking the last lead change, 34-28. Holy Rosary put up some more points before the final score would reveal a Lloydminster win, 41-31.  “The speed and the power was unreal! Larry (Godzuik) has taken that team to the next level,” Coach Sartain says he made sure a lot of his boys stuck around for the High School match.

Along with fantastic football action, the event raised over $12,000 towards BAFA cancer initiatives; as well as the Scott MacDonald Memorial Scholarship.

 

All three clubs had a special meet and greet with Edmonton Eskimo Patrick Kabongo