The St. Paul Lions have earned themselves a spot in the semifinals of the Wheatland Football League playoffs after pulling out a big win against the Lloydminster Barons on Saturday afternoon on home turf, winning 30-24.
“This is just sweet,” said coach Steve Johnson, just minutes after the game wrapped. “This is the first time (the Lions) beat the Barons in the playoffs, ever.”
The Lions found themselves down 7-0 early in the game, but kept pushing and got to within one point of the Barons before the first quarter came to an end.
The second quarter would be a busy one as the Lions scored a 60-yard touchdown with about seven minutes on the clock, making the score 12-7.
Just 15 second later, the Barons responded with their own 70-yard touchdown and completing the conversion to bring the score to within one point again.
With just 45 second left in the first half, quarterback Brendan McKay called his own number and ran it in for a touchdown and the Lions took the lead back from the Barons, this time for good. The Lions tallied a few more points to extend their lead 23-14.
With 1:09 on the clock in the third quarter, the Lions ran in another touchdown, completed the conversion, and gave themselves some breathing room with the score at 30-14.
The Barons came back, scored a touchdown with 12 seconds on the clock in the third and narrowed the gap to 30-21. The Barons came close with another touchdown, but a Barons penalty would negate it.
The Barons scored a few more points in the fourth with a field goal, but the Lions would hold on to its lead.
“They fought and they did not quit,” said Johnson of the Barons, adding, Lloydminster has a very fast team that “came to play.”
Johnson says the Lions’ coaches asked the boys to “dig deep” and play “sound football.”
There are a number of Grade 12 players on the team this year, and those boys didn’t want this to be their last game, added Johnson.
And although it was a big win, defensive back Cody White wasn’t celebrating just yet.
“We have to prepare for next week,” said White, who felt the Lions’ defence wasn’t as strong as it could have been at the beginning of Saturday’s game. “But, later in the game we brought it together.”
Dwight Garner, a defensive end with the Lions, had similar feelings.
“Today went OK, but I think we shouldn’t get our hopes up,” said Garner, adding, “We need to keep our cool.” He commended his teammates for playing a good game, but believes the Lions have to “keep the right mindset” going into this weekend’s game against the undefeated Holy Rosary.
“It was tough,” said Coach Todd Tanasichuk. “We knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Tanasichuk says the offence came out and played “fantastic . . . they got it done.” The coach believes the Lions will have to play even better this Saturday when they face Holy Rosary.
Saturday’s game will take place in Lloydminster at 1 p.m.
