
Wow, what a finish. The Colts battled the Lindsay Thurber Raiders on Saturday at Great Chief Park in Red Deer and came away 13-0 victors and Tier II Provincial Champions.
The game was played in a bitterly cold -18deg which seemed colder in the wind. The Colts opened the scoring early in the second quarter with a Hunter Guenard to Parker Waldren 35 yard touchdown pass. The lead would hold until the final three minutes of the game when Evan Sayyvetsy ran a reverse 55 yards for the touchdown which put the game away for the Colts.
“We worked hard on that play all week” said Head Coach Terry Swanney, “there is nothing like a good reverse to give the defence fits, Coach Lyth called it at the perfect time, we executed the blocking up front, and Evan delivered a clutch play for his team”.
The reverse calls for a fake toss to Mason Johnson going right with Evan taking the ball back to the left, the Raider defence “bit” on the fake to the right and Evan was off to the races coming off key blocks by Tyler Brady and Parker Waldren.
The Colts played most of the game on the wrong end of a field position battle, which saw most of their plays coming from deep in their own end. Once again the Colts defence showed the resiliency and determination to get the job done.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the boys this week” said Defensive Coordinator Greg Warnock, “we faced an undefeated team that scored over 40 points per game. On our bus ride up to Red Deer, we talked about a shut out and that’s exactly what we delivered. That kind of accomplishment is just plain amazing. Our defence played the majority of the game in our own end of the field and we still managed to keep their offense from scoring”.
“Kudos too to the Raiders who played a solid game especially on defence” added Coach Swanney, “they wanted that trophy and played hard for it. My admiration and respect goes out to that team and their coaches for the game they played and the sportsmanship they exhibited”.
“It was a very special way to end a great season, concludes Coach Warnock, “we knew that our offense was going to put up some points at the end of the game to give us that little bit of breathing room. That is all we needed to secure this monumental victory”.
A monumental victory that destiny seemed to ordain. Forty years ago in their inaugural season the Colts Bantams won the city and provincial championship. Forty years later, wearing the same jerseys, they are once again city and provincial champions.