When there’s a train coming, stay off the tracks.
The Springbank Community High School Phoenix found out the hard way, crossing the tracks as a late-running locomotive making up time arrived.
The result was a 65-14 train wreck engineered by the Cochrane High School Cobras. Wobbling down the rails to start the autumn high school football season, the Cobras had a full head of steam in the Sept. 20 afternoon Rocky View Sports Association tilt at Cochrane High.
“I think today, everything clicked,” said Cobras senior linebacker/fullback Mac Chaisson. “Just today, the confidence came up. We had a really good week of practice and I think that helped a lot.”
The Cobras expect to win the Alberta 2A high school football championship every year. They opened the season with two exhibition losses and a narrow 14-13 regular-season victory over George McDougall Mustangs.
Cochrane High was struggling.
“Last game, obviously, we were in tough with (George) McDougall,” Chaisson continued. “After all that, we weren’t really sure of ourselves 100 per cent.”
Any doubts were run off the rails against the Phoenix, who opened the RVSA season with a 21-0 Week 1 win over Airdrie’s Bert Church Chargers.
“Today was good. Running full speed. We had a good week of practice and that really helped,” said Grade 11 receiver Erik Nusl, who grabbed two touchdown passes against Springbank. “It was a good game. Glad we got our offence going. We really started to gel today. We had 12 men doing their jobs. That really helped today.”
Zach Deagle scored two touchdowns, Adam Rask scored two and Spencer Marchand scored one. By the second half, Cobras junior-varsity players were in the game.
“I feel good about this game,” said Cobras co-head coach and offensive coordinator Rob McNab. “Even getting the young kids in the whole second half. We need to do things very efficiently. We have to have a team effort this year.”
The win over Springbank puts the Cobras on stronger footing as the season progresses.
“It’s good to get our mojo back,” McNab continued. “Right down from the head coach to the trainers. It’s just getting that mojo back. That feeling. It feels like football. It’s that momentum thing. I think we can gain some good momentum from this going forward. Momentum is huge.”
