The Airdrie Irish showed their intentions and their talents on Saturday, defeating the Cold Lake Fighter Jets for the first time in franchise history.
Airdrie's competitive men's football team downed the visiting Fighter Jets 29-25 in an entertaining, back-and-forth battle at Calgary's Shouldice Athletic Park on July 8. The result marked the Fighter Jets' first AFL defeat since 2021 and the Irish's first-ever victory over the northeast Alberta team.
Anton Bellot, head coach of the Irish, confirmed it is a huge confidence boost for his players to beat the Alberta Football League's (AFL) defending champion.
Cold Lake is also the defending national amateur men's football champion, as they beat the winner of the Ontario men's football league last summer for that accolade.
“The biggest thing was that composure piece and making the right adjustments when we needed to, [in order] to put us in a position to win,” Bellot said. “There is still a lot to improve on, but we definitely did enough to win the game and that’s the most important part.
“The team aspect, everyone made the play they needed to make, no matter how small it was. This was very much a team win.”
Airdrie came into Saturday's game on the heels of a heavy defeat to Cold Lake a few weeks before. Making the long journey to northeast Alberta without most of the Irish coaching staff on June 17, Bellot said the Irish were beaten by the Fighter Jets 45-8 in that game, but came out of it with many lessons learned.
“Even though the score may not look like it, there were a lot of positives to take,” he said. “The guys were in really good spirits after. What we tell them is that it’s a really long journey for the season and nothing is going to be perfect. But take the lessons we can work on and improve. There were moments and flashes where we said, 'You know what, we can really hang with these guys.' That’s what we took from game one.”
That sentiment proved true in the rematch on July 8, as the Irish took an early 14-0 lead in the first quarter.
However, the Fighter Jets showed why they hadn't lost a game in two years by inching their way back into the contest. By halftime, the Cold Lakers were up 20-14.
“We started off fast. But they are the defending champions and we expected them to come back in the second quarter, which they definitely did,” Bellot said. “It was back and forth for the rest of the game, and we were fortunate to come out on top.”
Bellot touted the impact of quarterback Josh Williams and Javardo Sinea for leading Airdrie's offence, but he also singled out the performance of safety Ty Bessette, who earned the Irish three interceptions.
“Ty has been a leader for us on our defence, specifically on our secondary,” he said. “We saw a lot of routes that we noticed they had a tendency to go to, and we were able to take advantage of those at the safety position with Ty. He had one of the best games I’ve seen him play, so that was awesome to see.”
Brimming with confidence and a 3-1 record that puts them in second place (the Fighter Jets still top the AFL with a 4-1 record), the Irish will hope to take their positive momentum into next week's game.
It will be on the road but a short journey south for the Irish, as they return to Shouldice Athletic Park to face the Calgary Wolfpack on July 15 at 7 p.m.
According to Bellot, the Irish's yearly game against the Wolfpack – their closest geographical opponent in the AFL – is always significant.
“Calgary is a young but good team,” he said. “They have one of the best quarterbacks in the league, if not the best. They have a really good receiver in Alex Saretsky, and a young energetic defence. We have to prepare for that.”
Even though the Irish are ahead of Calgary in the standings, Bellot said it will be important to enter the game with the right mentality.
“On paper, some people may say it’s an easy game for us, but what I tell the guys is to throw out the records,” he said. “We could be 0-6 and they could be 6-0. Rivalry week is different. We take that game seriously and prepare for that game 365 days a year. I think it’s going to be a very entertaining game for the league.
“We want to see as much green in the stands as possible.”
