Opening-night jitters. Experienced players out with injury. A short roster.
Not the way you want to start a season.
But the Cochrane Lions soldiered into the night against the Calgary Bulldogs, dropping a 50-7 decision April 5 in the Calgary and Area Midget Football season-opener for both clubs at Calgary’s Shouldice Park.
With lineman Dale Cummings on the sideline, nursing a lower-body injury, and other starting linemen away for the weekend, the Bulldogs feasted on the Lions in the trenches.
“We had a lot of hiccups in the first half, pre-game jitters with the number of rookies we had on the field,” Lions head coach Ed Quillian said. “Being short players because of the Easter break. We were missing a few of our starters. “Pre-game jitters kind of caught us a little bit flat-footed and we let them take off and get a lead on us. It’s hard fighting back.”
Calgary’s long, slashing runs to the sidelines hurt the Lions early as Josh Quarles and Robert Stewart both darted from the middle of the field to the outside for touchdowns. And Cochrane’s offence took a couple of series to get on track before quarterback Sidney Berglund was able to string together some first downs and pick up some field position. While harassed most of the game by the Bulldogs’ swarming defence, Cam Cote’s offensive players did showcase some of their skill.
Now it’s all about making it happen.
“Execution is going to be key on the offence, for them to make the blocks that need to be made and giving the quarterback time to get the ball away,” Quillian said, adding he has some game film to study to help that cause. Getting starting players like Cummings, safety Bailey Gordon and outside linebacker Tristan Bobier back will also help.
“It’s a tough way to start our season, I think getting the rest of our starters back and working on our execution, we’ll have a better game next time.”
The Lions tackle the Wildcats April 12 at Shouldice, 8:30 p.m.
