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Tough weekend for Sylvan Lake football

Despite best efforts by everyone involved, Sylvan Lake’s Lakers, Lions and Bears football teams all suffered losses over the weekend.
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A Lakers player makes an excellent catch just outside the Lightning end zone, which turned into a touchdown on the next play. (Photo by Michaela Ludwig)

Despite best efforts by everyone involved, Sylvan Lake’s Lakers, Lions and Bears football teams all suffered losses over the weekend.

The Lakers played Red Deer’s Hunting Hills Lightning on Friday evening at HJ Cody. The Lakers managed some impressive plays throughout the game, including a well-executed interception, followed by an unhampered run into the end zone for a touchdown, but a few costly mistakes meant the difference between winning and losing. In the end, the Lightning came out on top with a score of 32 to 28.

Friday’s game was a semi-final for the Lakers and the team has a bye for provincials. With the outcome of this game, the Lakers will be playing in tier three for the provincials, with a date and location yet to be determined at time of printing.

The Bears played first on Saturday in Red Deer, playing against the Red Deer Hornets. The Bears went into the game fourth in the league, while the Hornets were first, so it was a stacked game from the beginning.

“The kids played pretty hard,” said Geoff Rambaut, with Sylvan Lake Minor Football. “But it was a tough game.”

The Bears lost to the Hornets 54-0.

Saturday evening, the Lions took on their long-time nemesis, the Notre Dame Cougars, in Red Deer.

“The Lions have been in six straight league championships and in three of those year we played Notre Dame,” explained Rambaut, adding that the Cougars had a grade 9-heavy team, whereas the Lions have quite a few more grade 8 players.

“We have a very good team, but that bit of extra experience makes a big difference,” Rambaut said.

The Cougars were up 20-0 by the end of the third quarter, but the Lions rallied back to score two touchdowns back-to-back at the beginning of the fourth quarter. However, the Cougars snuck in a final touchdown near the end of the game to secure the win, 28-14.

“They didn’t give up, they battled right to the end,” Rambaut said of the Lions. The Cougars went into the championship with six wins and no losses, and the Lions went in with five wins and one loss, so the game was evenly matched between the competitors.

“It’s always nice to win the game, but it’s also nice when the games are close and you have to work hard,” Rambaut said. “So that was good for us.”

Both the Lions and the Bears are done for the 2022 football season.