Putting 14 points on the board before your offence even hits the field is a good way to win a football game.
The No. 1 ranked Tier 3 Cochrane Cobras (2W-0L) had two punt return touchdowns less than six minutes into the game, as they beat the George McDougall Mustangs (0W-3L) 63-7 in Rocky View Sports Association football action at Genesis Place in Airdrie, Sept. 25.
“We work on punt return and kickoff cover a lot, because our expectations are that we’re going to score,” said Cobras’ co-head coach Rob McNab. “We were very pleased with our overall effort today.”
“The thing that killed us right at the beginning, which obviously set the tone for the first half, was the two punt returns,” said Mustangs’ head coach Brent Legault. “You take those away and I think our team has a much different attitude. Our defence was holding strong against them. Offensively, we we’re moving the ball and moving the chains. Special teams made the difference in this game.”
Kellen Forrest’s 85-yard punt return touchdown 3:30 into the game and Nik Petros’ 80-yard punt return touchdown two minutes later provided the Cobras with an early lead. Forrest would then add a one-yard touchdown run and a 40-yard interception return touchdown to put Cochrane up 28-0 at the end of the first quarter.
“Forrest is a Grade 11 kid and he just lives football,” McNab said. “He understands the game and that’s why he is playing on both sides of the ball.”
Petros caught a 18-yard pass from quarterback Quinn Wilton, Forrest had another interception return for a touchdown, this time for 50 yards, and Ben Lawrence caught a 47-yard pass from Wilton to extent the Cobras’ lead to 49-0 at the half.
“It’s nice to have all those weapons and they did well for us today,” McNab said. “Cochrane has really good runners and when they get the ball, they know how to run around people,” Legault said. “They also have a good quarterback who gets them the ball.”
Lawrence scored his second touchdown on a seven-yard run five minutes into the second half. Cochrane did, however, play its backups for the majority of the second half.
“We’ve got some injuries and we rested some kids,” McNab said. “It was good to get those other guys in there. Credit to George McDougall though because they kept playing right to the end.”
Matt Mancini and Mike Callaway provided Airdrie fans a spark near the end of the game, when Mancini threw a left-handed 22-yard halfback option touchdown pass to a wide-open Callaway.
“Coach called it and we knew they were doing blitzes, so we kind of drew them in,” said Mancini, a Grade 12 student. “We just put it in this week to see if it would work or not.”
“I saw everyone going for him, so I was left wide open and ready for it,” said Grade 11 player Callaway.
“We have plays that we run and we have plays the kids want to see,” Legault said. “They want to have fun. It’s taking advantage of the way that defences run certain things, and you look for tendencies – that’s the whole key behind trick plays. They ran it perfectly.”
Eric Patterson added a late 53-yard touchdown catch for the Cobras.
In other RVSA action, the Bow Valley Bobcats (2W-0L) beat the Springbank Phoenix (2W-1L) 25-1 and the Bert Church Chargers (2W-1L) beat the Chestermere Cowboys (0W-3L) 42-0 (see story on page 24).
This week will see Bert Church host Springbank at Genesis Place on Oct. 2 at 3 p.m; George Mac and Bow Valley will play a home-and-home Sept. 28, at 5 p.m. in Cochrane, and at 12 p.m. in Airdrie on Oct. 2; and Cochrane will visit Chestermere, Oct. 1 at 5 p.m.
