The St. Paul Bengals football team hit the road on Sept. 20 for a Bantam matchup against Bonnyville. The Bengals fell behind early, mainly due to two long punt return touchdowns by the home team.
The St. Paul Bengals football team hit the road on Sept. 20 for a Bantam matchup against Bonnyville.
The Bengals fell behind early, mainly due to two long punt return touchdowns by the home team. All of a sudden, the Bengals found themselves trailing 28-0.
“Our inexperience showed,&” commented head coach Todd Tanasichuk. “But then we put a good drive together, and scored before the half.&”
Bonnyville was able to put up another major score in the third quarter, and the Bengals managed a touchdown of their own in the fourth. The final score read 35-14 in Bonnyville's favour.
“We put together a couple of long, sustained drives, and then we'd kind of bog down and go for it on third down in their end and turnover the ball,&” Tanasichuk said of his offence's performance. “We tried to throw, but it was a bit windy. We threw three interceptions.&”
The head coach did point out a few offensive standouts, including running back Shayne Hurtubise. “It was his first game, he was injured last week,&” Tanasichuk said. “As the game progressed, he started to run the ball much harder.&”
He was also happy with the play of running Hayden Ludlage on offence, and defensively he noticed Jessie Chornohus
“He played quite well, as did Matt Kotowich,&” the coach said. “They are flying around, knowing what to do, and finding the ball.&”
Despite the loss, Tanasichuk still feels his team is moving in the right direction.
“We made a big jump last week, and we made a little jump this week,&” he said. “I was hoping for more, but we still continue to see improvement out of the kids.&”
A big challenge looms ahead as the Lloydminster Chargers are set to travel to St. Paul for a Sept. 27 matchup at 1 p.m. The way things are shaping up in this short football season, the upcoming game may decide who earns that final league playoff spot.
“If we continue to make improvements, I think we'll be ok,&” Tanasicuk said. “It'll be a tough game for us against the Chargers, and hopefully we can avoid some of the bigger mistakes we made this week.&”
