The young St. Paul Lions went to Armstrong Field for their semifinal game with the Lloydminster Composite Barons upbeat and loose.
They had the look of players who had already come further than anyone could have expected and had nothing to lose.
“Last week’s game in Cold Lake (mentally) was the Superbowl for these Lions, this was more like the Pro Bowl,” said Lions’ head coach Mark Tichkowsky.
While the Lion may have lost, they never fell apart as a team. There was no finger pointing and they stayed upbeat as they fell to a superior foe. Back-up quarterback Adam Berlinguette was tapped to start the biggest game of his young career. The Grade 10 student performed admirably.
A high snap deep in the St. Paul’s end led to a safety touch. A punt return for a touchdown by Nathan Zacharias, and Lloydminster was up 9 - 0 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second, St. Paul put together a long drive but got shut down deep in Lloydminster territory. After that, the 60-man strong Barons squad took control going up 30 - 0 at the half. Berlinguette led a series of drives moving the ball well, but couldn't get into the end zone.
In the fourth quarter, Berlinguette suffered a minor injury, and was forced from the game. Replacing him was third string quarterback Dustin Klean, who had not taken a snap all season. Klean lead a drive downfield completing both his pass attempts and even rushed for five yards and a first down.
St. Paul would make it to the Lloydminster 10-yard line but ran out of time on the clock. The final score was 39 – 0.
After last week's quarterfinal game in Cold Lake, two Lions ended up going to the Emergency Room. As a result, Grade 12 quarterback/cornerback and team captain Parker Lumby would be out two to fourd weeks with internal bleeding.
Lumby was injured on the play that got one of Cold Lake's players ejected from the game. Starting left guard and the team's most effective defensive end David Campeau was also unavailable due to a head injury suffered in Cold Lake.
St. Paul dressed 29 players for the semifinal game. When asked about the results Tichkowsky said, “It was a game that we knew we were in tough with the starting Lumby and Campeau out of the game due to injuries from the previous week. Lloydminster capitalized on turnovers and special teams. Who stood out? First- year quarterback Adam Berlinguette had a pretty good game for being put into a situation of running the offense. Henry Laidley was the true standout on both sides of the ball.”
Despite the loss, there were many bright spots in this game. Laidley was outstanding on both sides of the ball. He ran the ball well in the fullback spot and amassed a pile of tackles at linebacker.
Matt Kotowich also stood out, playing centre and middle linebacker, and A.J Macdowell also played very well. Lumby out Macdowell stepped into the role of kicker/punter as well as playing both offensive guard and defensive end.
For what was essentially a rebuilding year and a team with 50 per cent Grade 10s, the Lions performed beyond expectations.
“I thought for a fairly young team we accomplished many of our goals, and by finishing in the top four in the Wheatland that is nothing to hang your head about.”
Tichkowsky further elaborated, “We have a good core of Grade 10 and 11 players returning, with the vast majority of them being starters this year. With a good group of Bengals coming up we should be able have a good year and hopefully make provincials in Tier IV.”
There are 15 graduating Bengals and if all Lions return that will give the Lions a roster of nearly 40 athletes.
Other results from the WFL include Wainwright beating Westlock 45 – 24. Wainwright will advance to face Cold Lake in the consolation championship. Supplementary discipline has also been assessed by the WFL who suspended the Cold Lake Royal's player for an additional game for the stomp to Lumby.
