The weather was great, the crowd was supportive, and the competitive spirit on display at the St. Paul Regional football field was vibrant, leading to a great football jamboree being staged on Saturday between the St. Paul Bengals and school football teams from Cold Lake and Bonnyville.
Travis Rolheiser, one of the Bengals’ head coaches, says that a springtime jamboree is valuable in helping kids decide to continue with the team when it starts practices again.
“There are a lot of kids that come out to the springtime camp (leading up to the jamboree) to see what it is like and aren’t exactly sure if they will come back in the fall. I think this little bit of game action is going to help encourage kids to come back in the fall. It is a good taste of what game action might be so hopefully it gets kids coming back to play with us after summer.”
Rolheiser says he is hoping the positive feedback from the Bengal athletes following the jamboree will translate into strong autumn participation.
The Bengals’ first game was against Bonnyville. There was no official score kept for the game, but Rolheiser says Bonnyville did carry the play.
“They have a very athletic team with a lot of older players. Their offense was very engaged. You could tell this team has been working together for quite some time. They took our players by surprise at the start of the game.”
That some of the Bengals’ players were overwhelmed is understandable. Some of the players were only hitting competitors for the very first time. As well, the pace was at a higher level than these players’ were facing in scrimmages.
The Bengals’ turned in a better performance in its game against Cold Lake. According to Rolheiser, the team having fewer nerves helped lead to the Bengals being the better team in the match-up.
“We had a lot more confidence in that second game. “Our offence was making great plays and our defense was fantastic.”
Overall it was a satisfying jamboree experience. In addition to the team making solid plays on the field the coaches are also pleased with the leadership group on the team at this competition, and the three-weeks-worth of practices leading up to it.
The Bengals and the St. Paul Lions will be back on the gridiron in August.
