After tons of confusion, and a little bit of controversy, the Bow Valley Bobcats and Cochrane Cobras could meet once again during the Alberta Provincial playoffs.
Both Cochrane schools are registered under tier three, after the Bow Valley school population increased by more than 450 students, which means they will play in the third tier, denying them an opportunity to defend last year’s tier 4 provincial title.
The Bobcats and Cobras met on Sept. 26 in a game that caused plenty of confusion as to whether the game was supposed to be a senior varsity or junior varsity matchup. Some suggested there was an agreement between the school’s principals that both team’s would play their junior squads, which only added fuel to an already heated rivalry.
The game was also cut short due to an injury to Bobcats’ defensive back Jason Tkachuk, who left the game in an ambulance, but was released from hospital shortly after.
A ruling from the league regarding the conditions of the game was to be announced the afternoon of Oct. 4 after press time.
Bobcats coach Cam Cote said moving up a tier is just another challenge for his team.
“We are just slightly over (the school population), so that’s another challenge for us. We had an above average group of Grade 12s last year, so we’ve got to rebound for that,” Cote said.
“We’ve got to rebuild from losing that great group, while also preparing for the next level. The players are committed, the coaches are committed so off we go.”
In regular season action, the Bobcats dropped to 1-3 on the season after a 38-7 loss to the Springbank Phoenix on Sept. 29. Cote said the game was actually a lot closer than the scoreboard showed.
“We knew that this was a rebuilding year, we graduated some exceptionally athletes and that’s high school football,” Cote said.
“The guy’s have worked very hard and I was actually quite happy with the game. We had a great effort, we took great strides forward and they caught us in little breakdown’s here and there – a missed block, a missed tackle … Springbank has a very talented team.”
The team will be in Chestermere on Oct. 5 to face the 1-3 Cowboys.
“We seem to match up well against Chesteremere, we have good games both ways … they’re tough at home, they’ve always been tough at home so we’re excited to go play them,” Cote said.
“It will be a good measuring stick to see if the hard work at practice plays dividends.”
