The St. Paul Lions packed their bags and took a trip to Edmonton to face off against the Cold Lake Royals on Saturday, with a special exhibition game taking place at Clark Stadium.
Despite starting the season strong with some dominating wins of Vergreville and Athabasca, the Lions struggled to carry that momentum into the exhibition game over the weekend. The Lions would lose the game 7-0.
The Royals were once a bitter rival of the Lions, but the rivalry has cooled down due to schedule that have seen the Lions only face the Royals once in the past two seasons before Saturday’s matchup. The intensity that was anticipated for the game presented a strong defensive battle, which ended with the uncharacteristically low score at the end of the fourth quarter.
The score of the game reflected how strong the defense is for both of these teams, but Lions’ coach John Lumby attributed the lack of offense on his team’s part to a subsequent lack of control of the ball.
“We did not handle the ball very well on offense. We made several drives up the field and lost the ball on fumbles and two interceptions when we were getting close to the end zone,” said the coach.
The Lions’ offense has operated very well so far in season, but the boys struggled to find their way into the end zone.
“We couldn’t finish, and that was obviously reflected by the score . . . Cold Lake has an offense that depends on passing, so we did a good job of working hard on defense to limit their offense.”
The Royals scored their only points of the game early on in the match, catching the Lions on a penalty and pinning them deep in their end of the field. They eventually found their way into the end zone for the touchdown and extra point.
Lumby added that the Cold Lake defense played hard, but the struggles of the Lions offence were based on their inability to execute on the basics of football.
“We need to control the ball a lot better than what we showed on Saturday. We have struggled with fumbles in previous games but managed to recover. We can’t afford to continue making those mistakes, especially against the better teams in the league. We have to get back to basics.”
Right Defensive end Justin Fodchuck was a big part of the defensive line in the game.
“Our defense was able to get through the line and stop the quarterback or force him to make bad throws,” said Fodchuk. “Our backs blocked their receivers very well. Overall our defensive success definitely held us in the game.”
Fodchuk echoed what Coach Lumby had to say about the offensive struggles in the game. “Our offense had some untimely fumbles which really limited the amount of time they had the ball.”
Lumby said that although the game was a rough one for the Lions, the things they need to work on are simple and the boys will continue to work hard in practice, with an exciting night for the team coming up this Saturday.
“It could have been a different game entirely if we had been able to finish. We’ll be working on how we finish plays this week before the night game this Saturday.”
The bright side of the loss is that the game does not count towards the Lions’ season because it was an exhibition game, and hopefully the team can work out the bugs for their upcoming regular season games, including the home game under the lights on Saturday.
The St. Paul Lions are hosting Wainwright at about 7:30 p.m. after the Bengals wrap up their game against Cold Lake.
Both games will take place under the lights with sponsorship coming from Northern Source Rentals. The Lions will be taking a silver collection for the KidsSport program, as well as accepting food donations for the food bank.
There will be a mobile trailer parked near the bleachers where all donations can be dropped off. St. Paul Football manager Todd Tanasichuck invites everyone out for the exciting night game action and hopes for a big crowd.
