Senior Mustangs blanked by Taber Rebels

Senior Mustangs vs Taber Rebels
C. Davis and T. Lucas photos and video

Toni Lucas and Chris Davis

Pincher Creek Senior Mustangs hosted the Taber Rebels at the Matthew Halton High School football field on Thursday, October 10.

The Mustangs had a sizable crowd supporting them for what was their last home game of the season.  The Rebels  kicked farther, they moved faster, and they hit harder.  Mistakes were made by both teams, but Rebels were better able to take advantage of their opportunities.

The game started off slowly.  The Rebels scored 3 points in the second quarter.  Then they added another 7 with a touchdown and field goal with less than 5 minutes left before the half.

The Mustangs sustained a few injuries during the game, and that along with previous injuries throughout the season cost them.  Spirits were still good until the Rebels scored again with less than 2 minutes left in the third quarter bringing it to 0 - 16.

From that point on, the Rebels went forward with the relentless force of an avalanche.  Final score: 0 - 36 for the Rebels.

"Actually, and I can say this, it was a close game," said Mustangs Head Coach Wayne Alexander.  "Up to half-time it was 11 nothing. As has happened before this year, the inexperience and the youth of our players led to them being worn down as time goes on.  As we got close to the end of the game I think the boys were tired.  We've got a lot of people that are injured, and we haven't got big numbers."

The Senior Mustangs have 7 players that returned from last season and 15 players new to Senior football.  "The 15 are all kind of brand new," explained Alexander.   "Some are new to football, some  not.  Some have played elsewhere."

Injuries and a suspension hurt the Mustangs in this game.  "Generally speaking we've got everything we need in place.  I really believe we should be 3 and 2.  The boys believe they should be 3 and 2.  But two games ago we had  three grade 12 linemen that couldn't play.  They are our only grade 12 linemen, so we played with a young line, but we had a quarterback.  This game, our quarterback couldn't play, because he was upset the previous game and was given a one game suspension.  So we had to put in a rookie quarterback.  Now, quarterback is a pretty integral position and the boy that we put in there (Liam Nazarek) did very well for his first ever game of playing quarterback.  He did very well.  To expect him to be able to make completions on patterns that he's only been working with as a quarterback for a week and a half is pretty difficult."

'Depending what happens next week we play a week from today.  We are playing at U of L.  We are playing the Bow Valley Bobcats out of Cochrane (an exhibition game). They're ranked number 8 in the Province.  It'll be a good chance to show people what we can actually do."

'We still have a chance at playoffs," Alexander explained.  "We might have one more chance at Coaldale.  If we win that one we'll have the right to play Claresholm one more time."