The Airdrie Raiders midget football team’s unbeaten start to the 2019 Calgary Spring Football Association (CSFA) season came an end April 18 with an 18-14 loss to the Calgary Mavericks at McMahon Stadium.
Despite the Raiders taking a 14-9 lead into the fourth quarter, the Mavericks tacked on a touchdown and a field goal in the final frame, while keeping the Raiders out of the end zone and securing the come-from-behind victory.
“We competed really hard,” said Raiders head coach Steve Kemp. “[The Mavericks] are a good team and a well-coached team. We have to play a full 48 minutes all the way through.”
Kemp added losing linebacker Tyler Ruck to injury made things difficult for the Raiders in the fourth quarter.
“[Ruck] is a big part of this team and an emotional leader for us,” he said. “We had a little lull there…they took advantage of that and put up some points.”
Calgary was first to get on the scoreboard, with a short field goal on its last drive of the opening quarter.
Receiver Blaise Newberry then took the lead for Airdrie in the team’s first drive of the second frame, by completing a 10-yard pass from quarterback Danny Skelton in the end zone, to bring the score to 7-3.
While the Raiders’ defence kept the Mavericks away from the end zone, preventing the team’s kicker from scoring through the uprights proved a more difficult task. The Mavericks added a second field goal shortly before halftime, bringing the score to 7-6 for Airdrie.
“Our defence has a tendency to stop offences in the red zone,” said Raiders linebacker and defence captain Dylan Sorsdahl. “We’re pretty good at it, but you can’t stop the kicks.”
Five minutes into the third quarter, Airdrie’s Ty Metcalfe out-jumped the Mavericks defensive back in the end zone to catch a 15-yard pass from Skelton, extending Airdrie’s lead to 14-6.
The Mavericks answered back with another field goal, this time from more than 30 yards out, to make the score 14-9.
“Any time [the Mavericks] were inside the 30, they have a shot of getting points,” Kemp said. “I thought our defence played outstanding. There were so many times they were on our goal line and had to walk the subtle for three.”
Smelling blood, Calgary came out hard in the fourth quarter, and took its first lead of the game with seven minutes left. After a successful drive that brought the Mavericks within a few yards of the Raiders’ goal line, the team eventually scored a touchdown on a second-and-goal through a quarterback sneak.
Suddenly down 15-14, the Raiders pressed hard. Running back Michael Schaan thought he won the game for his team after scoring a huge, 60-yard running touchdown that involved dodging and weaving between the Mavericks’ defence and criss-crossing the field en route to the end zone, but a penalty call struck down the TD.
“It was a blind-side block. It’s a new rule that was implemented last year. It would have been a clean hit if he’d led with his hands," Kemp explained. "That said, Michael Schaan is a special talent. He’s got that low centre of gravity and how he stays on his feet is really impressive.”
Calgary then sealed the win with another field goal with 1:34 left.
The loss means the Raiders enter its bye week with a 2-1 record. Considering the team has already equalled last season’s wins total, Kemp said the start of the CSFA campaign has been highly promising.
“We just have to be a little sharper on our execution and play a full game all the way through,” he said. “But there are so many positives to work off this. There’s a good vibe in the dressing room and an expectation to win. There’s a culture shift from a couple years ago, of wanting to win [to] expecting to win and demanding the best from each other.”
The Raiders is now in a three-way tie for second in the Boulton Division with the Mavericks and the Calgary Hilltoppers. The Calgary Cowboys leads the division with an unbeaten, 3-0 record.
Airdrie will return to the field May 3 to lock horns with the Hilltoppers. That game is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Shouldice Athletic Park, in Calgary.
“This game came down to the wire, for most of it, but I guess they outplayed us at the end,” Schaan said. “If we can sharpen everything up during the bye week, our next game will be a lot better.”
