Kellen Forrest kicked five extra points during the Cochrane Cobras’ 41-3 win over the Bert Church Chargers at Genesis Place in Airdrie on Oct. 5.
But it was the missed extra point following his fifth of six rushing touchdowns that had him thinking after the game.
“The ball was wet and slipped in the holder’s hands, so we won’t really worry about that,” he said. “We’ve been playing really well and this was probably our best test so far.”
The Cobras, ranked No. 1 in the Alberta Tier III rankings, relied on Grade 12 Forrest’s rushing, both due to his talent and because the inclement weather and injuries forced head coach Rob McNab to alter the game plan.
“We lost our fullback on the fourth play of the game, so we had to move some bodies around,” he said. “But every week you see something different out of him (Forrest) and tonight he was competing hard. The kid can play football – there’s no doubt about that.”
Cochrane opened the scoring four minutes into the game, when Forrest ran in for a touchdown from eight yards out. He broke free for a 50-yard touchdown run 4:25 into the second quarter, then added a 33-yard touchdown run with 1:37 left in the first half.
Bert Church kicker Mark Johnson hit a 38-yard field goal with 53 seconds remaining in the half to put the Chargers on the board at 21-3.
“We were down 14 before we kind of knew it,” said Chargers’ head coach Andy Kirk. “After that, we had a good battle. I think a big thing with our development is we faced one of the top teams in the province and we battled and competed with them pretty well. You never like to lose, but our compete level was decent tonight.”
“I thought Andy and Bert Church played a hell of a game today,” McNab said. “They had their intensity level up and we didn’t bring ours with us. They played great.”
Forrest added his fourth major of the game when he capped a five-play, 55-yard drive, 4:38 into the second half. Cochrane made it 34-3 when Forrest scored on a one-yard rush, then had the botched extra point attempt, early in the fourth quarter.
He scored his sixth rushing touchdown on a 15-yard scamper with less than two minutes left in the game.
“Our team probably didn’t play the way we should have,” Forrest said. “We didn’t come out with enough intensity. But luckily I had some good plays and had a good day.”
“Their running back (Forrest) – he’s provincial calibre, national calibre-type player,” Kirk said. “You can see that with his running. But we missed a lot of tackles on him as well.”
Cochrane (now 4-0 in Rocky View Sports Association league play) will play at 4-0 Springbank (who beat Bow Valley 35-0 on Oct. 5) on Oct. 14. Game time is 4:30 p.m. at Springbank High School.
Bert Church (0-3) will play at Chestermere (0-3-1), who tied George McDougall (1-1-1) 19-19 on Oct. 6. Game time is 6 p.m.
