The Bonnyville Bandits beat the St. Albert 49ers to be named the bantam 2012 Tier 3 Northern Alberta Champions this past Saturday, dominating the frozen pitch at Walsh Field to take the game 61-7.
Carrying the play on both both offense and defence, the Bandits pulled into the lead early in the first quarter and held onto it for the rest of the game, racking up 61 points before the 49ers returned with seven of their own, with only seconds left to go in the fourth quarter.
“Our team played very well,” said Bandits head coach Dan Jubinville. “We had a couple of guys really catching the ball and running the ball hard.”
He credited part of his team's success to the conditions, as the Bandits are used to playing on the frozen ground and the 49ers seemed to struggle with it a bit.
“They come down from Edmonton where they have a turf field,” he said. “It's slipperier (here). They weren't ready for that. It's a tough game.”
He said the Bandits spent part of the week in preparation for the game trying different changes in footwear just to see what would get better traction on the frozen field and it paid off.
As both the 2012 Wheatland Bantam Football League (WBFL) Champions and the Tier 3 Northern Alberta Champions, the Bandits now advance to the Tier 3 provincial final against the Calgary Wildcats. The game will take place at Hellard Field in Shouldice Park in Calgary and kick off is scheduled for Saturday at 1 p.m.
Last year, the Bandits had a similar provincial run, winning both the WBFL and Northern Alberta games before moving onto provincials, playing the Cochrane Lions at home. The Lions ended up winning the game with a score of 14-10 and the Bandits are looking forward to the opportunity to go for provincial gold again.
After agreeing that the season this far had been “amazing” and “phenomenal,” Bandits Marcel Chartrand, Hayden Luciak, Braeden Letondre, Isaac Amalia and Donovan Campeau, who were all on last year's team, said they cannot wait for the opportunity to play in the provincial game again.
“I can't believe we're here again,” said Chartrand. “When we get to Calgary, I think we can do this all the way. I believe we can.”
The boys agreed that the most important thing they intended to bring to this game to have a different outcome than last year was confidence and they said they owed the successful season to every player on the team, as well as the coaching staff and the fans.
“You can't play football without all the players on the field and the players on the bench cheering us on,” said Chartrand.
“Thank you to Bonnyville and all the fans for coming out to cheer us on,” Campeau added.
