The first week of the high school senior boy’s football season is behind us with three teams showing their opposition they need to step up their game if they hope to compete for a playoff spot come middle October in the tough 1A Conference Three football league.

Raiders vs. Lions

On a warm and sunny mid-September Thursday afternoon the Davidson Raiders senior boys football team made the arduous four-hour bus journey to the Lion’s Den to line up against a strong Gull Lake team.

Blair Frederickson, coach of the Raiders, said the taxing bus ride played a factor in his team’s 83-19 loss to the Lions with the opposing club’s physical play also proving a major contribution. He said the first half was extremely difficult for his team as they went down 56-6 heading into the break and suffered a few key injuries to their starters along the way.

“I don’t think we were prepared for the physicality of how they came at us and blew us away,” said Frederickson. “That and trying to get off that bus and trying to get our legs under us and get going probably did us in more than anything else.”

Frederickson said the club lost middle linebacker and offensive end Vanner McDonnell to a broken leg and quarterback Mike Kowalski to a twisted ankle during the second quarter due to a few hard hits by the Lions. He said after the half a decision was made to go with their younger guys because of their short bench.

“In the second half the score was actually 27-13 and two of my Grade 9s, Andrew Read and Addison Ouellette, scored touchdowns for us,” he said. “That was promising with a short bench and with a limited number of bodies.

“It’s a good future for our program getting those Grade 9s in. The second half, with some of my (Grade) 12s banged up, I went with the young guys and they played well. They stuck their nose in there and gave a good effort.”

Lions head coach Neil Boutin said his team has a seasoned offence with four starters from last season that were able to spread the ball around and keep the Davidson defence guessing during the game. He said they were also able to use their blocking to spring skilled and speedy players into the Raiders zone resulting in a few scores.

“Building on a quick lead in the game allowed us to get all of our players in to play meaningful minutes,” said Boutin. “We had a number of Grade 9 and 10 kids who logged some quality time in the game. They made some mistakes, especially on defence, but they also learned a lot about what it takes to play in a high school football game.”

To read more please see the Sept. 23 print edition of The Davidson Leader.