The Drumheller Senior Titans are hoping for a victory as they take on the strong Rundle College in the league final this Saturday.
This comes after a convincing win over Bow Valley of Canmore last Saturday.
The Titans didn’t allow Bow Valley into the game. When the dust cleared, the Titans walked off the field with a 33-7 win.
“We saw a lot of things that were encouraging Saturday,” said Rasmussen. “We were able to diversify our offensive attack, and defensively we were able to cause a lot of problems for the Canmore offence.”
“What had proven to be a potent offense from Canmore in other games this season, Ken Fournier, our defensive coach did an awesome job of being able to slow down their attack. At any point if our defence made a mistake, they would have been able to put some points on the board and it would have been a tight game.”
On the other side of the ball, Rasmussen said the offence was tenacious, something they have been focusing on in practice.
“We were able to find a couple places we were able to attack. We changed the appearance of our attack as well, which may have been a bit of a factor. I think our offence had sufficient wrinkles to it, we could catch them off guard,” he said.
Drumheller has faced Rundle twice this season, but have not been able to get the win. Optimum performance for the Titans means versatility and keeping their opponent guessing.
“Rundle has become very efficient at stopping our offense when it is what they expect it to be. What we will find out this week, is will they adapt quickly enough to shut down this slightly modified attack? Because if they run the same defence they did last time, we should be able to successfully move the ball against them,” said Rasmussen. “They will adapt, but then it is up to us to make adjustments to open up another areas to attack.”
Rasmussen has no illusions that this won’t be a tough game.
“They are the reigning provincial champions and they are playing like it. They have a very physically strong team. The first time we played them, the problem was their physical dominance on the field really intimidated us. What our guys have to realize is we can go up against a team that is bigger and stronger than us, faster than we are, and more skilled, and we can still beat them,” he said. “We have done it in the past and we can do it again. I think this win against Canmore has really fed the fire of optimism in that our guys are starting to realize we have the potential to take our playoff drive well into provincials.”
While both teams have already earned their way into the provincial tournament. The Big Sky Champion will play St. Timothy’s of Cochrane in the first round of provincial, while the loser will play Willow Creek of Claresholm, which is sporting a number one ranking and a 7-0 record.
“The league championship is extremely important for two reasons. Number one it is a league championship. We would like nothing more than to go into Calgary and beat Rundle,” said Rasmussen. “The second reason is both teams are going to provincials, but you don’t want your first round of provincials to be against the top seed.”
The league championship is this Saturday in Calgary.
