The Holy Rosary Raiders won last Friday afternoon’s game against the St. Paul Lions in Lloydminster with a score of 51 – 7. The only touchdown for the Lions came from Dale Krankowsky during the first quarter.
Although the game meant nothing in the standings, since the Lions have already made the Wheatland Football League playoffs, the team would have liked to perform better in the game, according to John Lumby, the Lions’ offensive coach.
Lions’ defensive coach Todd Tanasichuk said the team knew it was facing the Wainwright Commandos this Friday in its first post-season game at home, and that prompted his decision to let the team’s younger players have more time on the field.
“While it is never good to lose, I took it as an opportunity to get our younger players more experience,” explained Tanasichuk in an e-mail to the Journal, adding, “And to have our main players escape injury since they played less today.”
Although the Lions lost the game with an uneven score, Lumby feels positive about the Lions’ upcoming game this Friday. “(The loss) will affect us in a positive way,” commented Lumby. “I think we are going to take out all our frustrations on Wainwright … the boys will be ready to prove themselves next week, that this game that we had was an abnormality.”
With the team in the playoffs, Tanasichuk hopes the team’s veterans will step up their intensity for Friday’s big game. “The Lions are known for playing with heart,” said Tanasichuk. “But we had a number of veteran players deciding to play heartless football on Friday, and that led to an embarrassing loss.”
The young rookies on the field played hard, Tanasichuk noted, adding, “It did not excuse some of our veterans from not having themselves ready to play.”
Tanasichuk went on to comment that football is a physical sport, and the team needs to have the desire to push and hit their opponents with everything they have, or “in turn they will be the one to get pushed around.
“I expect them to ALL be ready to play this week,” he stated in the e-mail.
The Lions will kick off against the Wainwright Commandos this Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. at St. Paul Regional High School’s football fields.
