It may not have been the victorious ending to the season they dreamed of, but the Westlock Thunderbirds are hanging their helmets high with no regrets after taking silver medals in the Wheatland Football League consolation final Oct. 27 against Wainwright.
When the dust settled, the Commandos had edged the Thunderbirds 34-22, but head coach Jon Kramer said the Thunderbirds battled to the very end.
“It was a real back-and-forth game, similar to the last time we played them,” he said. “We made some long drives and punched some in, but they had a really good running-back who made a couple long touchdowns on us, then near the end of the game, we drove the whole length of the field and then turned the ball over and they were able to punch in another couple touchdowns and we couldn’t make up the difference.
“It’s tough to see it done but we’re really proud of the guys. All season long they competed in every game they were in and gave a really, really good effort. As a coach that’s what you hope for.”
Kramer said the team left Wainwright in good spirits in spite of the loss, noting the players felt good knowing they put everything they had on the turf and adding this was the Thunderbirds best season since they entered the league in 2015.
He said the hardest part of the loss was that many of the Thunderbirds may have played their last football game. With 15 players graduating, the Thunderbirds will have some big pads to fill next season.
That being said, Kramer also noted he had half-a-dozen offensive linemen returning in 2019 and joining them will be another six or more from the Thunderbirds bantam program, which just concluded its first year.
Kramer noted that many of the bantam players were ready to go, so now that they were in the age qualification he expects to see some good things on the field.
Since Westlock is now the only team in the Pembina region competing, Kramer noted the Thunderbirds were looking to expand their recruiting and pull some extra bodies from around the region.
“We had a roster of 30 and half of them were Grade 12s,” said Kramer. “We’re losing a big core of our team. We know we’ve got a lot of help coming up, but as coaches we realized we’ve got to push on recruiting this year. So we’re going to try to get into the outlying schools like Onoway, Barrhead and Thorhild and promote the program.”
A major positive for the team was they had a measurable improvement from eight games ago and their ability to put points on the scoreboard.
“We kind of played the toughest teams first, but Wainwright and Cold Lake are no slouches either, so we find ourselves in the mix of a very competitive league. So you try to make your feelings about the season not about wins or losses but how well did we do with the group we had and in that we saw a marked improvement in how they saw the scheme and marked the offence.”
While high school football is done, for a few players there may yet be another visit to the gridiron. Kramer said the Thunderbirds have nominated top prospects Aidan Walker and Tristin Gross for the Nissan Kickoff Project — an all-star game of the top high school players in the country taking place in Edmonton on Grey Cup eve, that being Nov. 24. Kramer said he expects to know if they are named to the team later this month.
Kramer added the Thunderbirds were keeping busy, volunteering to assist with Remembrance Day celebrations Nov. 11 and were planning another tea social for folks in long-term care in December.
Beyond that, coaches and captains are busy making their selections for the Thunderbirds upcoming awards night Nov. 28. After that, the team will kick back and start looking to next season.
