The weather and the outcome for Ponoka’s bantam Broncs football club were one and the same, not that great.
The Broncs ended up on falling 46-6 at home Sept. 28 to the Drumheller Titans on a cold, windy and somewhat snowy day.
Both teams struggled with the weather conditions early on, but each managed to put a touchdown on the board in the first quarter.
However, that was it for any offensive success for the Broncs as Drumheller’s ground game wore down the Ponoka defence, with the visitors heading into half time with a 24-6 advantage. From that point on, it was all Drumheller.
“We had a good first half with the defence doing a good job of filling their gaps. The offence was able to get the ball twice into the red zone, but fumbled both times,” Broncs head coach Todd Lewis said.
“In the second half, we got down on ourselves and stopped executing. There were glimpses of potential, but we weren’t able to be consistent as we stopped playing hard.”
Lewis added if the club can get back to the effort showed earlier this season, the success will return.
“I one hundred per cent believe in this group of young athletes and know we are going to play four quarters in our next game,” he said.
The bantam squad will travel to take on the winless Springbank club on Oct. 5 before facing Red Deer’s Lindsay Thurber in their final home game on Oct. 12.
Fit to be tied
Meanwhile, the PSC Broncs felt a bit of pain after a victory was snatched out of their hands in Wetaskiwin on Sept. 26 when the home side hail mary earned them a last minute 6-6 tie.
Head coach Cody Baird felt his team would be ready to face one of the top clubs in central Alberta.
“We knew we had to play better as Wetaskiwin beat Camrose, who had beaten us, and we had a much better showing than last week,” Baird said.
“Defensively, we shut them down until that last 40 seconds, where they scored on a third down hail mary attempt. I am very proud of the way our team bought into the system and the speed they play at.”
Unfortunately, the club’s offense faltered several times in the red zone, ending drives with fumbles or interceptions.
“We left a lot of points on the field, plus we had two missed field goals, so we have some cleaning up to do,” he added.
Baird did acknowledge the hard work his offensive coordinator Riley Quance has put in, including reviewing film, which has resulted in a lot of success in driving the ball down the field.
However, the biggest test of the season comes Friday (Oct. 4, kickoff at 4 p.m.) when Stettler — the top ranked Tier IV team in the province — comes to Ponoka for the Broncs, ranked eighth in Tier IV, last home game of the season.
“This really is a ‘must watch’ game as Football Alberta made it one of their ‘Games of the Week’,” Baird stated.
“If we can beat them, we have a very real shot at provincials for the first time ever.”
