Destiny’s team ran into a case of dynamite on the road to perfection, and the resulting Explosion was enough to blow up a date with an undefeated season.
The Cochrane Lions put their 10-0 record on the line against the Lacombe Explosion under sunny skies Nov. 23 at Calgary’s Shouldice Park and came away licking their wounds following a 35-7 loss in the provincial Tier 3 peewee football final. It was Cochrane’s first, and only, loss of the season – in the last game of the year for 11- 12-year-old football players.
“It’s just an honour to be in provincials,” said Lions’ lineman Aidan Smith right after the game. “We didn’t really execute the way we wanted to. We didn’t play Lions football at all.”
Cochrane had a three-week break from its last game, an 18-12 Calgary Peewee Football Association (CPFA) city-final victory Nov. 2 over the Calgary Broncos. And the rust showed as Lions turnovers – six fumbles and an interception – added to the burden of containing Lacombe’s 6-foot-2, 160-pound running back Richard Jans, who scored four of Lacombe’s five touchdowns in the final.
“It was a tough game, not Cochrane Lions football,” Lions head coach Paul Vaillancourt said. “We started off the season saying mental mistakes are unacceptable. Today, fumbling the ball, they weren’t physical mistakes.
“I feel bad for the guys. To end like this, it’s disappointing. You just hope they (players) don’t go into the off-season feeling down instead of celebrating a victory.”
