Royals 41-21 over T-Birds
Cold Lake takes a road win in Westlock
Photo Credit: Chastity Roberts
The Cold Lake Royals prepared themselves for the Westlock T-Birds knowing that the team ran “a different offensive game”, says Head Coach Kelly Johnson. “They are very physical. We call it a double wing, it’s twelve guys in the box and it’s a misdirection, very tight. It’s really tough to figure out who has the ball and it’s very physical.” Coach Johnson explains thanks to Wheatland Football League rules, that require each team to post game footage, the Royals were able to prep by watching game footage of the T-Birds; which was key in their success.
“All of our teams have to put up our film and we share with each other. We sorta know what every team is going to do, but they know what we’re going to do too.”Coach Johnson explains players have access to the film too, so they can prepare for the matches both with the team and on their own. Westlock’s style is quite unique to the league, nonetheless, “we call it a meat grinder, just a muck of guys in there on every play. It was very tough on the guys, but we did a very good job.” Coach Johnson says he was very impressed with the team’s efforts in the second half of the game, “we played very well.”
There were some standout plays, says Coach Johnson, “Daniel Delorme at wide receiver had two touchdowns for the club. He really had a solid game, all around.” The squad’s quarterback, Braeden Wicht was also on fire in Westlock, “and Anthony Francis had an outstanding game at wide receiver,” says Coach Johnson. “It’s nice seeing those guys do well.” All around the coach feels the club passed the ball very well and took advantage of plays. “On special teams and defense Nathan Roberts did very well. He had a kickoff return for a touchdown; that was a our first really big special teams play of the year. He had a great time for us!”
Leading into the big rivalry game on Friday versus Bonnyville, Coach Johnson says preparation is the key. “Bonnyville is a very good team this year, they’ve had a lot of success. They have a great group of athletic grade 10s. They’re going to be tough and a completely different game than last week.” Coach Johnson anticipates a fast paced game with a lot of speed from Bonnyville, “hopefully, we’ll take advantage of any opportunities we can get.”
Coach Johnson says there’ll be a good crowd for the match-up; which is typically the biggest night for Cold Lake football. Kick off is 4:30 pm at Soholt Field.
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