The Airdrie Storm weren’t able to maintain the momentum from its first win last week, as the team dropped a 54-24 game to the Calgary Cowboys at Shouldice Park, Oct. 15.
Jordan Baldwin had a 90-yard kickoff return touchdown and a 72-yard rushing touchdown, while receiver Tyler Cockshot had his first career touchdown on a reception from quarterback Duncan Little.
Unfortunately for the Bantam football club, they allowed too many points by the Cowboys’ high-powered offence in the first half.
“I thought, in the first half, our effort absolutely sucked,” said head coach Steve Kemp. “At halftime, we challenged the guys and they responded. Their effort was much better after and it showed, as we were able to make plays, stop them and get some turnovers. It’s just too bad we spotted them so many points in the first half.”
The Storm (1W-7L) will now head into the Calgary Bantam Football Association playoffs as the sixth seed from the North Division. They will play the winless Calgary Wildcats in the opening round at Shouldice Park’s Encana Field, Oct. 21 at 9 a.m.
During the loss to the Cowboys, the Calgary-based club opened an early 16-0 (extra points are worth two in Bantam football) lead on two big touchdown passes. On the ensuing kickoff from the second major, Baldwin was able to use his blocks, find a gap and run 90 yards for the score.
The Cowboys’ next play, however, was for a 67-yard touchdown pass. It added another, two minutes into the second quarter, to go up 32-8.
Airdrie responded with a trick play in its next series, when Baldwin deceptively faked a reverse handoff, then ran unmarked 72 yards into the end zone.
“That’s a play that assistant coach Nick has been in my ear to run for a couple weeks and I finally let him try it at practice,” Kemp said. “It surprisingly worked for us, so we put it in the playbook and hopefully we can catch a few teams off guard like we did today. The effort level comes up when you get some big plays because everybody gets excited about it. We can also then open the playbook up a little bit.”
Calgary scored two more touchdowns in the next eight minutes, before Little threw an interception that was returned 45 yards the other way for yet another Cowboys score – and a halftime 54-16 lead.
Airdrie’s third score came with three minutes in the third quarter, when Little found Cockshot for a 10-yard touchdown pass.
“He was super excited – I’ve never seen a kid that excited,” Kemp said. “He outworks everybody, his heart is huge, and he deserved to get a touchdown.”
Kemp said the team would try to build on last week’s win, as well as its second-half performance against the Cowboys, as it now looks to surprise some teams in the playoffs.
“I thought we were in the right place a lot of the time, so we just have to work on our effort level and play a full 48 minutes,” he said. “We won the second half today, so we just need to build on that.”
