After two weeks of running through their opposition, the Foothills Bantam Eagles got a taste of their own medicine on Saturday in Calgary.
The Eagles (2-1) suffered their first defeat of the season in convincing fashion as the high powered offence of the Calgary Bulldogs (3-0) bit the Foothills club 44-6 in Calgary Bantam Football Association action, Sept. 8 at Shouldice Park in Calgary.
“It wasn’t a great showing,” said Eagles head coach Brent Millard. “But, boy we’ve got a lot of injuries right now, some of those guys who were huge parts of those first two games were out.”
The Eagles, who employ the fly offence under the guidance of offensive co-ordinator Kevin Klotz, were also without two of their key slotbacks, Jeus Mapatac and Daylon Creason. Mwambi Chali was left to do much of the running from the outside, along with first year Bantam Connor McGee moving over from running back, on top of his kickoff and punt return duty and performed admirably, Millard said.
“Mwambi played the whole game but you could tell he wasn’t himself, he has a sore ankle, and his speed wasn’t anywhere near what it normally was,” Millard said. “The toughness of Mwambi was pretty impressive I thought.”
On defence, the Eagles were missing Jacob Ponton with a thumb injury and Dawson Cummings who was sidelined with an injured foot.
Foothills would surely have benefited from a healthy defence against the twin-running attack of the Bulldogs, who have scored 112 points in just three games this season.
Bulldogs’ quarterback Michael Sherman and twin brother and tailback Christian Sherman, both from the Priddis area, made life miserable on the Eagles defence with their power running game.
“Boy it was tough to hold those two twins with those big injuries,” said Millard, who made a point of preparing his team for the Shermans. “We struggled with it earlier in the week and came up with a plan and were trying to put a couple of our key guys around the outside and still keep our middle solid.
“When those injuries started coming up we started running out of options.”
The 38-point loss came on the heels of a pair of runway victories, 54-6 over the South Calgary Colts and a 32-6 triumph of the Calgary Mavericks, to start the campaign for the Eagles.
Coming up on the other end of the scoreline versus the Bulldogs could benefit the Eagles in the long run.
“I think we’re definitely humbled and it’s good to be humbled,” Millard said. “I’m not sure the boys were going to this overly arrogant, but I do think it doesn’t hurt them to understand what it is to lose now too and see the whole picture.
“They’ve got a good feel for what winning looks like, what losing looks like and hopefully now we can put it together a little more.”
The Bantam Eagles get right back on the gridiron this weekend when they tackle the winless (0-3) Calgary Falcons on Sept. 15 at 2:45 p.m. at Shouldice Park.
