Colts football program looking to build on early season wins

Grade 12 slotback and cornerback Haedyn Davies hauled in a massive 65-yard touchdown pass to put the game away for good and said a switch flipped on at halftime.

“We started off slow in the beginning,” said Davies. “It kind of got away from us a little bit, but then we picked it up after halftime, got a good halftime speech in us, and we just brought it back together and won the game.”

New head coach Darrell Grass added the team was able to calm things down with fewer mental mistakes, which led to the change in momentum at 15-7.

“I think they just got tired,” said Grass. “They’re a good team, they gave us a good run in the first half. Luckily, we had a few extra players, had a little bit more gas, less mistakes, and obviously it worked out for us.”

Koby Laychuk-May, Ian Heidinger, and Eric Fedechko scored McCoy’s other touchdowns in the win with Brady Ulmer and Thomas McCue splitting time behind centre.

With exhibition games factored in, the Colts have won three of their last four games and are rolling ahead of re-entering Rangeland Football Conference play once again.

“It feels a lot better knowing we can go to school and say that we’re 3-1 now instead of saying we’re 0-4,” said Davies. “So, it’s self-confidence and brings our school out to some of these games as well to help us win.”

Although it’s his first full season behind the bench for the Colts program this fall, Grass has seen a change in the way his players approach the game.

Especially from the crop of Grade 11 and 12 students who endured the 2018 season, which saw the Colts lose every one of the Rangeland Conference games.

“It’s a long time deserved for these boys,” said Grass. “They’ve been working hard for years, they got it together, they’re working hard, and they’re reaping the benefits. And, they’re starting to get confidence and that’s a good thing. The more confidence you have, the better you play.”

McCoy’s lone blemish came two weeks ago with a humbling 51-6 stomping at the hands of the Medicine Hat High Mohawks, a loss that still stings for the Colts veterans.

“We took the loss pretty hard honestly,” said Davies. “It sucked coming here losing, it always does. But, today we proved that we can play with anybody and we just came and balled out.”

Moving on from the double-digit loss against the Mohawks, the Colts are using the old adage of ‘failure being the greatest teacher.’

“Last week we sort of got beat up,” said Grass. “It’s nice to play a good team because they actually expose your weaknesses. We’ve always said, ‘Just be better next week.’ And, the next day you try and get better.”

Missing from the field on Saturday was Grade 10 running back Toras Brooks, who has been a breakout threat out of the backfield this season for McCoy.

Grass said he’s currently nursing an ankle injury and wanted to play it safe in the exhibition tilt versus Pincher Creek.

“He’s a key player for us” said Grass. “I’d prefer having him at 100 percent than him twisting his ankle again and being out for another week. We have Rangeland again, we have Brooks next Friday. It’s going to be tough, Brooks is always tough, and after that we have Crescent Heights. So, we need to be healthy.”

A tough schedule awaits the Colts with a Friday night matchup against Brooks preceding next week’s cross-town rivalry with the Crescent Heights Vikings.

But, players like Davies are confident they’ll be able to keep up with the Mohawks of the world when crunch time comes later this fall.

“We won two games at the beginning of the year, unfortunately we lost against Hat High,” said Davies. “But, we’ll be back to play them in the Rangeland final.”

by Scott Roblin

Colts football program looking to build on early season wins

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