A four-game win streak has turned around the Airdrie Raiders’ season, setting the bantam football team up positively for the 2019 Calgary Bantam Football Association (CBFA) playoffs.
With just one game left in the regular season, Airdrie boasts a 5-2 record. Head coach Douglas Robertshaw said the team has improved its play as the campaign has progressed.
“We had the skill and all the right pieces, but this has been one of those things where the team has been working really hard,” he said. “They trusted the process in terms of knowing what they need to do, and they’ve done all the right things.”
After starting the campaign with two losses in its first three games, Airdrie rebounded, and hasn’t tasted the sting of defeat since Sept. 7, when the Raiders fell 32-0 to the Calgary Cowboys.
Since that shutout loss, Airdrie has recorded 150 points in four games, while conceding just 30.
The Raiders’ recent run of form has vaulted the team into a three-way tie for first place in the Brock Jacobs Division, alongside the Calgary Bulldogs and the Calgary Stampeders.
The Raiders’ most recent outing, Oct. 5, was a hard-fought 15-14 win over the Bulldogs – a team Robertshaw said is usually among the strongest in the CBFA.
“It was one of those games which, at the beginning of the year, we had it circled and said we really wanted to win that game and make a statement about where our team was at and who we are as a football program,” he said. “We were really happy to come out on top.”
The Raiders’ final regular-season fixture will be Oct. 12 against the unbeaten Calgary Wildcats, which leads the Ken Toone Division alongside the Cowboys. Kickoff is set for 3 p.m. at Shouldice Athletic Park.
“When we played [the Wildcats] in the jamboree, we were...competitive with them,” Robertshaw said.
“From top to bottom, that whole organization does a lot of things right. Obviously, we’re trying to model what we do after them. It would be really nice to be able to go in there, surprise them and take the victory.”
The CBFA post-season will begin Oct. 19 and run until Nov. 2. If Airdrie wins its first game, it will compete in the Tier 1 playoffs.
“We have a really good shot...,” Robertshaw said. “We’ve been pretty healthy all year and have a team that works really hard and they listen at every practice. It’s been coming together really well.”
The Raiders isn’t the only Airdrie minor football team in the midst of a purple patch.
In the Calgary Peewee Football Association (CPFA), the Airdrie Storm has the same 5-2 record as the bantam Raiders, having won its most recent battle 32-6 against the Chestermere Chiefs Oct. 5.
Like the Raiders, the Storm is enjoying an impressive five-game win streak. Chestermere was the first team to put points on the board against Airdrie in four fixtures. Prior to that, the Storm hadn’t even conceded a touchdown since its 52-34 loss in Week 2 to the Calgary Wildcats.
The Storm’s high-scoring offence has registered 234 points this season – an average of 33 points per game – while the defence has kept opponents to just 88 points, or 13 per game.
Airdrie’s final regular-season game will be Oct. 12 against the Calgary Rebels. The battle will begin at 9 a.m. at Shouldice.
The CPFA playoffs will begin the following Saturday.
