After a fourth consecutive loss, the Airdrie Irish will need to turn things around in the second half of the Alberta Football League (AFL) season if the team hopes to make an impact.
Playing at Ed Eggerer Athletic Park June 15, the Irish was shut out 21-0 by the unbeaten Central Alberta Buccaneers. As Airdrie enters a two-week break, the team will need to regroup after losses against the Cold Lake Fighter Jets, the Calgary Wolfpack, the Fort McMurray Monarchs and the Buccaneers by a combined score of 110-46.
Despite the string of poor results, receiver James Balsdon said the Irish has shown plenty of effort this season.
“This year, our hashtag is pound for pound, because we know we can go pound for pound with any team in this league,” he said. “We aren’t getting the numbers we want, but we’re getting all the heart.
“If we can fill a couple of key positions, we’re going to be right back in this thing.”
Like last year, it’s been tough for the Irish to fill out the team’s roster. With dwindling numbers from Airdrie, players this year come from four different cities, according to Balsdon – Airdrie, Calgary, Grande Prairie and St. Albert.
“We seldom have a full practice for that reason,” Balsdon said. “But for games, the dedication from those [out of town] guys is unreal. They’re driving six or seven hours to get here.”
Another struggle has been the Irish’s small game-day rosters – even for home games, Airdrie rarely has more than seven or eight guys on the bench, meaning many players feature for both the offence and defence.
“We’re pretty happy with the core we’ve been building,” said linebacker Gunnar Godhe. “[But] numbers sometimes catch up with us and you see some of our guys going both ways. We’ll start to fade when it’s a tight game right until the end.”
Against the Buccaneers, the Irish held the visitors off the scoreboard until late in the first quarter, when wide receiver Ben Hnatiuk scored a touchdown on a slant play.
Neither team managed to add points in the second frame, meaning Central Alberta took its seven-point lead into the halftime break.
Airdrie’s defence came up big in the third quarter. After Central Alberta advanced all the way the edge of Airdrie’s end zone, the Irish defence held the Bucs from scoring on six consecutive close-range plays.
“Our defence is probably one of the best in the league, it’s just our offence needs to give them a chance,” Balsdon said.
The defensive effort might have taken too much out of the Irish, as the home team struggled for the remainder of the game. The Buccaneers doubled its lead on the first play of the fourth quarter, when Dano Vares scored an easy touchdown on a 15-yard catch-and-run.
A successful surge from running back Connor Lutz on the ensuing drive brought the Irish’s offence to the 20-yard-line, but an interception pass from quarterback Darius Smith meant the Buccaneers regained possession. The visitors capitalized on the mistake to tack on one more touchdown, when Hnatiuk nabbed his second of the evening with just more than three-and-a-half minutes left to play.
The Irish will now enjoy a mid-season break before returning to the field July 6, to take on the Calgary Wolfpack at Shouldice Athletic Park.
With the two big road trips to Fort McMurray and Cold Lake already out of the way, Godhe said he expects a more competitive Irish in the second half of the season.
“We’ve been able to add a few guys in the last few weeks,” he said.
“We’re looking forward to having a week off to recover and then start getting our guys together so we can go a full four quarters.”
