The 2022 high-school football season has come to a close for the Bow Valley Bobcats, following an 18-13 defeat to the Springbank Phoenix in the Rocky View Sports Association's (RVSA) consolation playoff bracket on Oct. 21.
Head coach Dustin Paul said it was a spirited contest between two teams that were fairly evenly matched this season. Had a few calls gone the other way, he argued the Bobcats could have just as easily been on the other side of the score line.
“Both teams played really hard and battled, and that’s all you can expect from a good football game,” he said.
The defeat means Bow Valley ends the 2022 RVSA season with a 1-6 overall record. Their sole win during the regular season – a 28-6 victory over Springbank on Oct. 6 – was the Bobcats football team's first competitive victory since 2018.
Paul, who himself is a Bow Valley High football alumnus, said his goal upon taking over the Bobcats' head coaching reins this year was to start to turn around the program, which has struggled to produce positive results in recent years.
With a win under the team's belt this season, Paul feels the foundation has been laid for the program to continue taking steps forward next year.
“I don’t think anyone else was feeling the pressure of getting that win, just because of everything we’d already been doing,” the coach said. “You could already see the change in the team’s atmosphere.
“But personally, I put that pressure on myself. I wanted to walk out of the year with a win so you could actually see we’re building and growing and getting better. It’s the first win of many to come, I think.”
According to Paul, this year's Bobcats roster was heavy with Grade 10 players Most of the team's older players were fairly new to the sport, as only a few had played for the football team throughout all three years of their high-school eligibility.
“We were a very Grade 10-heavy team, so that whole core is returning next year, which is huge,” Paul said.
“It’s amazing to see the turn-around in the team already. This was the year we figured you would start to see the change. We had a lot more change instilled this year than we were expecting, and that sets us up for future years to come.”
The Bobcats will officially wrap up the 2022 season with a team banquet on Nov. 19. After that, Paul said the coaching staff will produce an off-season workout program for Bow Valley's players to do during the winter months.
“I’m a big believer in setting themselves up for future success, not just for football,” he said. “We’ll show the guys how to lift properly, and get that ball rolling so they’re set up for whatever else they want to do. If they want to play basketball, if they want to play rugby or play baseball, they’ll have that athletic base…and know what to do to prepare and get ready.”
