The Westlock Thunderbirds racked up their first win of the season against the Olds Spartans last week, unfortunately as an exhibition game it won’t show on their season record as the Wheatland Football League heads into the playoffs.
The Thunderbirds took to their home field at Westlock Elementary School Oct. 5, scoring their first touchdown within minutes of the opening whistle and they didn’t look back from there, holding off the Spartans for the decisive 28-18 victory.
Head coach Jon Kramer said it was nice for both players and coaches to get the win after starting the season winless at 0-5. There was some celebration and some relief he said, but stressed it’s not all about the wins.
“It was nice to get the win, but as coaches, we’ve been proud of this group every week. They’ve consistently given a good effort and left it out on the field every week, it’s just that this week we got the win,” he said.
“We’ve told them from the get-go that talent-wise this is probably the best team we’ve ever fielded. To start off the season 0-5 was kind of a shock to some of them, but the competition has been so good this year that even with the best team we’ve ever fielded, it’s hard to get those wins.”
Despite the win, there are still a few things for the team to work on heading into their final league game of the season next week.
“A lot of our problems weren’t skill-based, it was just the little execution things that make the big difference, so we went over quite a bit of film with the guys and they felt good about it just to see they weren’t necessarily overmatched or weak, instead it was controllable things that we can fix,” said Kramer.
“I think they figured out in this game that they’ve got a lot of talent and a lot of heart, so we think it will come together in the last two or three weeks.”
The Thunderbirds will host the Wainwright Commandos Oct. 12 in the last league game of the year that will determine playoff positioning for the two teams.
Kickoff is at 4 p.m.
This is where it gets complicated, said Kramer.
Right now, Wainwright, Westlock and Cold Lake are currently in the consolation round. Wainwright beat Cold Lake by two points and Cold Lake beat the Thunderbirds by two, so if the they can manage to defeat Wainwright by more than two, they will finish ahead of those two teams.
“If we can beat Wainwright by more than two, we’ll actually finish on top of those teams. We would have a first round bye in the playoffs and those two would play off, then they would have to travel to Westlock for the consolation final,” said Kramer. “It’s quite a big game for our guys, they know that, but if they can pull off a win by more than two, we’ll have a week to rest our bodies and then another home game.”
