Cougar speed too much for Cobras

By Tim Bryson Co-coach, WCCHS Cobras football team

The Willow Creek Composite High School Cobras football team ran into a buzzsaw last Friday, Sept. 19, in Cardston, as a fast and motivated bunch of Cougars used an offensive explosion in the second and third quarter to beat the Cobras 42-12. This was clearly a game that Cardston had circled on their calendar after the Cobras knocked them out of the South Zone playoffs last fall.
The Cougars were able to score on their opening drive on a 24-yard touchdown pass. After a couple of series where their offence stalled out, they went “bombs away” late in the second quarter, hitting on touchdown passes of 52 and 53 yards on successive series.
The onslaught continued in the third quarter, as the Cougars ran the opening kickoff back 77 yards for a touchdown then scored again on a 69-yard touchdown run.
The Cobras offence had an excellent drive in the second quarter, keeping the ball for 12 plays before turning it over on downs at the Cougar 20. Another excellent drive, covering nine plays and 62 yards resulted in the Cobras first touchdown, a one-yard plunge by Logan Hurlburt. Two series later, the Cobras scored again on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Briggs Baker to Easton Wright, capping a three-play, 64-yard drive.
The Cougars scored their final touchdown on a 49-yard strike over the middle with just over two minutes to play.
The speed of the Cougar offence was something nobody on the Cobras had seen this season and something the new players had never seen before at all. Of the 20 plays that counted for yards (13 runs and seven completed passes), eight of those totalled 325 yards.
The Cobras run game was able to grind out 149 yards on 22 carries, with quarterback Briggs Baker throwing for 114 yards on 5 of 8 passing. It was easily Baker’s best game of the year, as he chipped in with 54 tough yards on six carries.
Syler Sabey caught two passes for 68 yards, including an outstanding catch of 47 yards in the fourth quarter. That play was great football all around, as Baker dropped a perfect pass between two defenders, Sabey made the contested catch, and fought for extra yards while the two defenders fought to limit the yards and wrestle for possession. Unfortunately, the ball came loose, but it was still a great effort by every player involved.
Easton Wright had three receptions for 46 yards and a touchdown.
Colby Symonds and Mika Hadu-Tutu each had four tackles on defence, while Karter Friesen had two tackles for losses, and a quarterback pressure. Micah Rice had another strong game in deep coverage at cornerback, with three passes defended. Rice also had an excellent game returning kicks, with clean catches and hard running on the returns.
The Cobras are home for the next two weeks, with Friday games against Crescent Heights of Medicine Hat this Friday, Sept. 26 at 6 p.m.…note the slight change in start time), and the following Friday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. versus Winston Churchill of Lethbridge.