The battle for bronze in the Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) football league will be an all-Airdrie affair.
A week after George McDougall's surprise upset over the Cochrane Cobras to claim the division championship banner, the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers will take on the Bert Church Chargers this Friday afternoon in the RVSA's consolation final.
The Cavaliers, who were the division's second seed in the regular season with a 5-1 record, are coming into the game on the back of a dominant 43-3 victory over the Springbank Phoenix in the consolation semi-finals on Oct. 28.
“We did a really good job of executing as a team and we kept going,” said Grade 12 quarterback Jager Kleisinger of the win over the Phoenix. “Even though we were up by a lot, we just kept going forward and not letting any points through. We did a good job of keeping our cool if a play went wrong. We always have that next-play mentality where we just keep executing.”
Their victory over Springbank ended a two-game losing skid Croxford had endured following a 5-0 start to the season. Their two losses came against the Cochrane Cobras in the final game of the regular season, and then the George McDougall Mustangs in the RVSA's semi-finals.
Kleisinger noted it was good to get back in the win column.
“We came off a really good season with two bad losses, so this was our get-back game, and it really helped,” he said.
The 2022 season has been a historic one for the Croxford Cavaliers. The team's strong start meant they have spent most of the campaign ranked among the top five Tier II high-school football teams in the province by Football Alberta.
Their positive results mean the Cavaliers are feeling confident heading into the consolation final against Bert Church, according to Kleisinger.
“Last year, we were a very young team with a lot of new players,” he said. “This year, we all had that same chemistry and that winning motivation. We have a lot of seniors on the team, so we all want that last season to be our best one.”
A second chance
Croxford's opponent this Friday will be a familiar foe, in the form of the Bert Church Chargers. The east Airdrie squad booked their berth in the consolation final with a 38-25 win over the Chestermere Lakers on Oct. 29.
Grade 12 linebacker Brydon Cameron said the Chargers scored on their opening kick-return on Saturday, which gave the team an early confidence boost against the Lakers. While Chestermere had beaten Bert Church during the regular season, Cameron said the Chargers put forward a more spirited performance in the playoffs.
“We had the strongest start we’d ever had in a game – we scored right off the opening kick off,” he said. “We kept that momentum throughout most of the game, only having a few parts where we slowed down. Most of the game, we were working really hard and playing well throughout the entire game.”
Cameron added that beating Chestermere felt like redemption for Bert Church, given the outcome of their previous encounter with the Lakers this season.
“We felt we hadn’t played at our best in the regular season when we versed them, so it was really nice to have a second chance and prove we could actually beat them,” he said.
Speaking of second chances, that will also be the case for Bert Church in Friday's game against Croxford, who beat the Chargers 35-7 earlier this season, in the 2022 version of the annual Turkey Bowl game.
Though Croxford ultimately ran away with it with three late touchdowns, the Cavaliers only led by five points until the final five minutes.
Buoyed by their recent victory over the Lakers, Cameron said the Chargers players will be raring to go against their local rivals.
“It’s nice because we’re going into this game with the exact same mentality we went into the Chestermere game with, where it’s our chance at redemption,” he said. “We really want this win to prove we can beat them.”
As it will be the last ever high-school football game for both teams' senior players, Cameron and Kleisinger agreed there is plenty more at stake this Friday than being named the third-best team in the RVSA this season.
Cameron acknowledged he has mixed emotions about donning the pads in a Bert Church jersey for the last time.
“We’re all nervous but also excited,” he said. “It’s a game we really want to win, but we also want to have as much fun as we can because it’s our last chance at playing together.”
