The work that the St. Paul Bengals defensive players did in practices leading up to its first league game against Cold Lake paid off. The local team downed the Cold Lake Bantam Royals in a 26-6 road win.
“Our defence was solid as a whole group, so I might have to give all 12 of those guys the game ball,” said Travis Rolheiser, one of the co-head coaches of the Bengals, in a text message to the Journal.
The only touchdown generated by Cold Lake actually occurred due to the Bengals’ own fumble on offence.
Rolheiser identified the key point of the game being late in the third quarter when the Bengals managed to execute two consecutive onside kicks. Rolheiser said that allowed his team to “keep their offence off the field and allowed us to put some points on the board.”
The coach identified Sheldon Scrannage, Dawson Poliakiwski and Owen Breast as standout players in the game. Rolheiser said Scrannage, the team’s quarterback, and Poliakiwski, the team’s centre, played “awesome and only had one misstep early in the game.” Rolheiser said Breast was “a beast for us on both sides of the ball.”
After making its road debut this past weekend, the Bengals are getting set to host the Lloydminster Mustangs in its home opener. The game is being held on Saturday, Sept. 12, at 1 p.m. at the football field at St. Paul Regional High School.
Rolheiser told the Journal that the coaches would watch some film of the Mustangs’ recent games to determine if any coaching adjustments are necessary leading up to game time. He says the team will aim to “have another solid week of practice and continue to get better with each passing day so we can reach our pinnacle on Saturday afternoon.”
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