It was a fairytale season for the Drumheller Senior Titans, but that tale came crashing to reality at the feet of the St. Paul Lions.
The defending champion Titans had a great season going undefeated and landing in the top spot in South at the Tier IV level. They battled through the postseasons and ended up back in familiar territory, at the Alberta Bowl.
It was familiar territory for the St. Paul Lions as well. They have been to the final three times before, but never left with a trophy.
This time the Lions roared. By the end of the first quarter, the Lions were up 14-0. By the end of the second, they were up 35-0. One more touchdown in the fourth quarter put them up 41-0 for good.
Not looking for excuses, coach Ken Fournier tells the Mail, the Titans didn’t play to expectations.
“We had only 46 yards of offence. You can’t fumble the ball twice in the first quarter and then throw two picks, and expect to win in a championship game,’ said coach Fournier. “The simple reality is the guys showed up, we made mistakes and we paid for it.”
He said St. Paul played a good game.
“They did some good things, they could kick long field goals, they could run the ball, they were good a blocking at the point of attack and they didn’t commit any errors,” said Fournier.
Despite this loss, the Titans program is in elite territory with this trip to the final.
“We made a lot of progress along the way, but after going all the way and winning it last year, it is hard to replace all of those pieces. That experience in big games plays a huge factor. That was a big part of the reason we made it back, having experience with our grade 10s and 11s that returned from last year,” said Fournier.
He adds that St.Paul made the Titans deviate from their game plan.
“A big part of our success this season was we were able to execute our game plans without much disruption,” he said. “By making those mistakes early our guys were finding it difficult to maintain that level without following a game plan.”
“Sometimes you make it there and the ball doesn’t bounce your way, and it can derail from there. Once St. Paul capitalized from those first turnovers, they were like a locomotive,” said Fournier.
“Looking towards next season, we had some good accomplishments this year. The guys returning got a taste and hopefully, we have an opportunity to play for that again.”
