The Drumheller Memorial Arena was a hive of activity as the Drumheller Ramada Raptors and the Drumheller Wiart Raptors hosted the annual Charmont Memorial Tournament. The tournament is in memory of Chris and John Charmont. The father and son were killed in an explosion at a Mexico resort in 2010. Minor Hockey has been hosting the U11 tournament in dedication to the family. This year eight teams from all over Alberta were on the ice, including Banff, Cochrane, Chestermere, Lethbridge, Wetaskiwin and Sylvan Lake, as well as the Raptor Squad. While the Raptors played well, the final included Banff versus Sylvan Lake and Cochrane versus Lethbridge.

The Titans hosted the Willow Creek Cobras from Claresholm in the South Semifinal. The Cobras are a perennially strong team and came out fighting, and scored the first touchdown. The Titans clawed their way back up the field and took the lead with solid defence and a varied offence.
The Titans were leading 27-7 going into the fourth quarter and the Cobras weren’t letting up. They managed to score making it 27-14. The Cobras performed a short kick and were back on the offensive. They kept pressuring but Drumheller was back on offence with 2 minutes left. Teagan Watson went on a tear with a 60-yard run for a touchdown.
The Cobras didn’t relent and scored once more in the last minute, but the Titans went on to a 33-20 win.
“Willow Creek is always ready for provincials,” said head Coach Ken Fournier of the battle last Saturday. We had a couple of bad bounces that didn’t go our way and that allowed Claresholm to continue to have the ball. The defence held tall.”
The Titans had a bye the week before the game and took the time to put together a strong game plan.
“We had a game plan put together offensively and defensively for what we wanted to attack. Special teams – nothing worked out because of the conditions… you can’t predict how the ball bounces in conditions like that.”
With this win, the Titans will be heading to Lethbridge this Saturday to take on the Taber Rebels. The teams have history, and last season Rebels upset the Titans in the second round, advancing to the Alberta Bowl.
“We know they (Taber) have been putting up points down in the South there. They like to run the ball and they can run the ball wide and in between the tackles. And they can pass it pretty decently. They are pretty balanced and they have athletes all over the field,” said Fournier.
He feels the team is well prepared to face Taber.
“I feel like last year our guys were pretty young going into the south final and I think we have learned a lot in this last year. There has been a lot of effort in this year by design and hopefully, some of those obstacles have prepared us for this time of year to get through the south and into the final.”