Sports | DrumhellerMail

Bantam Titans end season in Lacombe

Bantams

   The Bantam Titans held their heads high as the walked off the field for the season last Friday in Lacombe.
   The Titans had a great season finishing with a winning record. Lacombe stopped them in their tracks. Coach Andrew Zackrisson was proud of his team.
   “The boys never gave up and gave 110 per cent throughout the whole game. They tried to comeback,” said coach Zackrisson.
   The Titans came out fired up to take on Lacombe in the first round, but were struck with early injuries. A receiver, who also plays back-up quarterback, went down with a knee injury. The quarterback was then taken off the field with what appears to be a concussion. They also lost a safety and punt returner. The team had no quarterback so coach Zackrisson put in Braden Mazereeuw as quarterback.
   “He normally plays fullback and knows where all the running plays go we went with a straight running game,” he said.
   When players are dropping like that, it is hard to come back when you have no extra players to put in those positions,” he said.
   He gives their opponents credit for playing a good game.
   “Lacombe came out and set the tone and pace of the game. They just brought it to us. They had that extra gear off the hop,” he said.
   Lacombe won 33-15.
   Despite the lost, this was one of the most successful seasons ever for the Bantams. They finished with a 3-2 regular season record. This was the first time they finished with a winning record.
   Looking to the future, Zackrisson says they will have some building to do. Of the 25-player roster this season, he is seeing 14 graduate to the senior team, most of them solid players.
   “This is very good things for the seniors and coach Ken Fournier is excited about it,” said Zackrisson. “The seniors have some bright years coming up with those guys coming up.”
   He adds some will get a chance to play with the seniors come playoffs.
   Coach Zackrisson has had some of the Peewee Terrapins come up and practice with the bantams, readying them for next season.
   “They look pretty promising, I hope some will have a bit of a growth spurt through the winter, but other than that we’ll be fine. The peewee program is beneficial for the Bantams.

DVSS senior girls V’ballers post big win in Trochu

Sarah Devereaux
| inSide Drumheller

The DVSS senior girls Dynos volleyball team had a good ending to the month.
volleyball pic copy

The team travelled to Trochu on Wednesday evening and for the first time this season, won their first game 25-16.
   “The girls played awesome. Defensively they were blocking solid. Nikki Thomson had great blocks and so did Brayden Peters. We served amazingly. There was a lot of serving runs from Peters with a run of three, Rachel Graf had a run of three and Payton Zacharuk had a run of five,” said head coach Erica Crocker.
   Crocker said Trochu won the next game 25-16 and noted that Trochu came out with aggression for that game.
   “We had some really long rallies. Offensively, Thomson, Samantha Hirsch and Karis Hilchey were making kills. (We had) really smart plays from our setters making effective dumps and scoring points in that regard,” Crocker said.
   In the next set, the two teams played a deciding match to 15 but took an unfortunate loss of 15-10.
   “We had some amazing plays by Mikaela Koustrup. Her defense (and offense) were great. Our libero is Makenna Lutz and she was performing amazing passes all night. She was digging dimes, she was passing and she was (also) swinging and making points,” she said.
   Crocker also noted that Samantha Ptashnik had two aces and long runs of serves throughout the game.
   “I was so proud of them. I really wished I had taped their first game to see the contrast between where they are now and where they were. It is just phenomenal. I am super proud of them. They are staying together as a team. It is the dynamic that these girls have. You can’t coach that. It is awesome that they are always there for each other and they are always smiling with each other. They have come a long way,” Crocker told inSide Drumheller.
   Over the past weekend (October 23 and 24) the team travelled to Trochu for a tournament. Trochu won the tournament, with Olds coming in second and DVSS coming in third in their pool. On October 21 the team hosted Prairie Christian Academy and took a loss.
   Over the weekend of October 16 and 17 the team travelled to Airdrie for Kodiak Klassic. Crocker said although the team didn’t place for a medal, she was proud of how they played.
   “We saw some highly skilled, very tall girls play some volleyball. We put up an amazing fight… that was some volleyball those girls had yet to be exposed to as a team this year,” Crocker said.
   As part of the tournament, each of the teams were asked to participate in a food drive. Of the about 600 food items donated, Crocker said the senior girls dynos team donated 148 items. Thomson was voted by the team as all star for the tournament.
   The team will now travel to Three Hills on Wednesday, November 4.

Titans show discipline in Strathmore win

The Senior Titans found redemption versus Strathmore last Saturday, with a win.

While the game as largely symbolic, being the final game for both teams this season in Rangeland League play, the Titans went to Strathmore with something to prove. After being beat just a couple weeks before, this time the Titans had the last word.

“We had a lot of mistakes the first time we played them, but we cleaned that up and played a pretty good game,” said coach Ken Fournier.

This time the Titans only had one turnover, and bounced back on defense. They were tough as Devon Law had four bat downs, Shawn McTaggart had two, and Reid Nielsen had an interception.

“Our defensive coverage was much better. They did get a long pass in, but we denied them a long run with it,” said Coach Fournier. “We had really good pressure from our defensive line.”

On offense, the Titans were humming.

“Aiden Enns scored three touchdowns, and the runs were all over 30 yards,” said Fournier. He had at least 150 yards on the ground.

Derek Carrier and Noah Miles also both scored.

Fournier explains the team did much more passing than it normally does, a sign the running game is firing. The key for Fournier was discipline.

“It was a much more focused game. All week we worked on discipline and focus. We ran each series in that entire week of practice; we ran our offense, with no huddle. It made a big difference for us in the first quarter. We were able to keep them on their heels and they were not able to make any adjustments.”

The Titans were up 21-6 after the first half, and went on to win 35-13.

Playoffs are still a ways off. This Friday night they are hosting Cardston in exhibition play.

“They are in the same position as us, they are out of their league play, so they are looking to stay sharp,” said Fournier. “You can’t sit for three weeks and go into provincials against teams that are just finishing league playoffs. We want to keep ourselves sharp and keep our focus level high.”

With this win, the Titans slide into 7th place, up from 9th in the Tier IV provincial rankings. This Friday’s game time is 7 p.m.

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