In a big turnaround in fortunes from the season before, the St. Paul Bengals cruised from being second last in the Wheatland Football League bantam division to taking on the Lloydminster Mustangs in the championship game last Saturday afternoon.
The Bengals’ boys knew, going into the match, that they would be in for a battle, given that the Mustangs had gone undefeated during the season. During the championship matchup, the Mustangs would keep that win streak alive, defeating the visiting Bengals by a score of 13 – 0.
However, three-year veteran of the Bengals squad Jayden Duchesne noted it was “great” to improve on the team’s record during this season.
“This is the best we’ve done in six years,” he said, adding it’s “kind of sad” to be leaving the team now, particularly with the loss at the end of the season that came as a disappointment to the team that had high hopes of capturing the bantam championship title.
“We did good, but their defence kept shutting us down,” he said, adding that the score of the Bengals-Mustangs matchup was 0 – 0 until halftime, which spoke to both teams’ strong defensive efforts.
Several of the Bengals will be graduating from the bantam program and moving on to the Lions’ line-up, giving them a chance to continue to compete for football glory, while the remaining players will welcome new faces and attempt to build on the success of this year.
