The Foothills Bantam Eagles have a chance at silverware for the second year in a row.
Foothills took its playoff opener 34-0 over the Hilltoppers on Oct. 19 to secure its spot in the Calgary Bantam Football Association Tier III city championship.
“They’re pretty excited and happy with the chance to lift a trophy,” said Bantam Eagles head coach Tim Henderson. “It’s not the season that they hoped, but still to get into any city championship game is pretty exciting for them.”
The Eagles, the Tier II city champions in 2018, finished with a 2-6 record in the regular season against a challenging schedule.
“The team part of it, they stuck together, they put in a pretty good team effort and they had really good attitudes even with the record,” Henderson said.
Runningback Carter Smith was Foothills’ player of the game, scoring three touchdowns, two rushing majors along with a touchdown reception from quarterback Brady Jenkins.
On the defensive side of the ball, Tyson Sopp was a standout with two interceptions in the contest.
“It was one of those games where you’re playing the last place team, but you can’t take them for granted,” Henderson said. “They’re a very well coached team and going in everyone was healthy, everyone was ready to play.
“Everyone fought through the game and played well.”
The victory launches the Eagles into the Tier III championship final versus the Chestermere Chiefs on Nov. 2. Opening kick-off is 10 a.m. at Shouldice Park.
“They’re defending Tier III champions and they were one of our only wins of the season, but it was a pretty close game,” Henderson said. “Our defence were able to shut them out and I think our offence is starting to come around.
“Our defence has been doing really well and keeping us in games and our offence, we’ve only had a couple games where we’ve been in sync. Hopefully with two weeks of practice we can work on all of our shortfalls and pull it all together.
Peewees locked into semifinal
The Foothills Peewee Eagles playoff quest will be via the Tier II route.
Foothills dropped its Tier I playoff opener 22-8 to the Airdrie Storm on Oct. 19 to drop down into the Tier II bracket.
“We tend to compete at the Tier II level, just with the numbers we have and the size of our program,” said Peewee Eagles head coach Lance Kelly. “We’re right where we should be and (Saturday) just confirmed our placing in Tier II.
“I like our chances, we’ve got a good chance to put together a nice little run here.”
Up next for the Eagles, 6-2 in the regular season, is a battle with the Calgary Rebels on Oct. 26, an 11 a.m. start at Shouldice Park.
Foothills took the regular season meeting by a 36-12 count.
“All the teams we could play we’ve had success against,” Kelly said. “(The Rebels) have two really good defensive players, a couple good offensive players and a really good quarterback — probably the most talented quarterback in the league — so we’ve got to contain him.”
Led by a stout defence and a balanced attack on offence, with quarterback Emerson Liepert and fullback Austin Kroeker leading the way, the Eagles have the team to get back to the city championship final for the second year in a row.
“We’re more balanced with our talent this year,” Kelly said. “We can do everything, we can throw the ball, run the ball with a nice inside running game with a really talented kid at full back (Kroeker) and our defence is lights out when we play.”
