The Olds High School Spartans football team took one on the chin on Saturday in front of home fans at Normie Kwong Park, losing to the Drumheller Valley Secondary School Titans 35-18.
The game saw both offences putting up points in the first half, with the Titans jumping out to an early lead on a touchdown. Rhett Couture then caught a long pass from Spartan quarterback Clint Armitage to even the score in the first quarter.
After about a 10-yard return by the Titans on the ensuing kickoff, the Titans ran the length of the field on the next play to take a 14-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Zach Wild followed up a Spartans field goal early in the second quarter with about an 85-yard run into the end zone to give the Spartans a 17-14 lead – the last one of the game for the home side. The Titans regained the advantage with a major shortly before the end on the second quarter.
The Spartans then gave up two more touchdowns late in the game, including one in which Armitage was picked off near midfield. The end of the play resulted in seven more points for the Titans, with about two minutes left in the game. The Titans then added another major before the horn went off.
Following the conclusion of the game, coach George Grant said the Spartans were not prepared to play a solid football game.
“We came out flat. They beat us. Their kids came out and played, they dictated the play right from the very beginning to the final whistle … so if we're going to try and play their game, they're going to win,” he said.
Grant said in the absence of the Spartans executing their own game plan, the result was inevitable.
“We're not that good of a team that we can go and challenge other teams playing their style. We don't have to go back to the drawing board, we don't have to make huge changes, it's a matter of we have to execute what it is that we want to do,” he said.
Despite a couple of good efforts on the Spartans' part in which players racked up big yards on one play, Grant said fundamentals dictate that the team can't rely on the big play for its success.
“We can't rely on the one play. We've got to be able to sustain a drive, and that's something that we weren't able to do (against the Titans)…. Then we started to panic a little bit and as soon as you start to panic, the wheels are going to fall off the cart and problems are going to occur,” he said.
The team next travels to Strathmore on Saturday to play the Strathmore High School Spartans.
"We can't rely on the one play. We've got to be able to sustain a drive, and that's something that we weren't able to do."George Grant, OHS Spartans football coach
