Peewee Mustangs start 2013 season with 3 games at Claresholm Jamboree

Peewee Mustangs first play of season at Claresholm Jamboree
Photo and video courtesy of Jeremy and Kelly Nelson

Coach Tom Holoboff, Contributor

Well sports fans, its the most wonderful time of the year, yes football season is once again upon us.

This season saw the Peewee Mustangs once again participating in the Claresholm Jamboree to start the season. As always it was an excellent day put on by the Claresholm Raiders. This Tournament is often the first games for all the teams so it is used as a teaching tool by all the coaches.


The first match for our local heroes was against the Lethbridge Jr. Cougars. Both the Cougars and the Mustangs are experiencing growing pains with a number of new players in new positions. With the late cancellation of the Mustangs starting QB Trent, Gunner Metcalfe and 'Bullet' Brody Walter were pressed into game action with limited practise at Quarterback. Gunner started the game by moving the ball admirably down the field mixing up sweep left to Jarret 'Jet' Plante, sweep right with Matthew 'The Giant' Bruder then up the gut to cutter Lance Paleo. The meet up on the O-line was led by Gus Halibert, Ty Anderson and Tysen Teneycke, who held the rush from the defence at bay. However the drive fell short turning the ball over to the Jr Cougars.

Defense for the Mustangs is going to be a bit of an adventure. Having limited success running ball up the middle against Richie 'The Hammer' Larander in middle linebacker the Cougars turned to the outside run. It took a few runs before the corners established their reads, giving the Jr. Cougars a 2 touchdown lead. 'Hands' Grace Kirkness and 'Tenacious' Ty Anderson made some highlight worthy tackles on Defense. Bullet Brody made a valiant effort to lead the offense to the promised land but all for not as the Mustangs fell 2 touchdowns to none.

The second game saw the Mustang heroes facing a much more experienced Lethbridge Bulldogs team. With many of the Mustang players showing great improvement after one game's experience, this game was a closely fought match. The Bulldogs proved to be quick off the line on defense, giving Trent the Gunner and Bullet Brody very little time to make plays. Both learned that playing quarterback is not always glamorous as they picked themselves off the field. On defense the Mustangs saw great improvement with the middle plugged by Tysen Teneycke, Gus Halibert, Ty Anderson, Justin Nelson and Quinn Parker Whitlow on the line and Richie Lagrandeur, Lance Paleo, Tegan Teneycke and Grace Kirkness in the linebacker position stuffing any attempt to run up the middle. The outside run was stuffed by Mathew Bruder and Jarett Plante on the corners supported by safeties Evan 'Hitman' Malhi, Curtis 'Ironman' Giesbrecht, Trent the gunner Metcalfe and Isaac Superman Webb coming from safety. The Bulldogs did take advantage of their quarterback's strong arm completing a couple of long passes for touchdowns. Even though the Bulldogs did hold on to win 2 touchdowns to none, the game's highlight for me was when Isaac Webb and Tegan Teneycke had their uhuh moment when they get what is happening on the football field. Each new player has their uhuh moment, it is amazing to see when it happens - the big smile and twinkle in their eyes after making the big play.

The last game had the Mustangs pitted against their long time nemesis the Claresholm Raiders. With these two teams scheduled to face each other numerous times this season, this evenly matched game showed there are many entertaining games yet to come. Again the Mustangs offense struggled against the rush of the Raiders, but the defense showed that it will keep the Mustangs in any game. Even with 'The Meat' Gus Halibert and Tysen Teneycke providing excellent blocking technique the swarming defense of the Raiders seemed to limit the gains made by the Mustangs offense. One broken play saw Gunner Trent ramble for 20+ yards with Isaac Webb and numerous other Mustangs throwing punishing blocks to aid the run. The Raiders took advantage of some inexperience and luck to make a couple of long runs for touchdowns giving them again a 2 touchdown to none win over our home town hero Mustangs.

Overall on the day the Mustangs gained much needed experience and had a whole bunch of fun. As always the Raiders put on a great Jamboree to start the season, a big thank you to Maxine and her crew for the day. Any of you kids between 9 - 12 wondering if there is a sport out there for you, come give football a try. Football is the one sport that has a position for anyone that has a desire to play, teaching many life lessons along the way. However do not delay, as September 13 is the cut off for registration, but the sooner you can come out the sooner you can start having fun.

Well this is Coach Tom signing off until next week, reminding all of you loyal Mustang fans that everyday is a great day for football.