The Cochrane High Cobras football team finished off their Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) season undefeated after a convincing 51-7 victory over the winless Bert Church Chargers.
The Cobras will finish first place in the league with a 6-0 record, in a season where they scored 291 points while only allowing 32 points over the course of the six league games.
Cobras co-head coach Rob McNab says his team is now focused on the league playoffs and provincials which start on Nov. 4.
“You know it’s difficult, we have a three-week break away from football … we’re going to give the kids a bit of time away to recover from any injuries, catch up on school work, that sort of thing but we’ll be ready once the time comes,” McNab said.
Cochrane High will face their cross-town rivals the Bow Valley Bobcats on Nov. 4, as they’re the only other Tier 3 school in the Rocky View league. The Cobras defeated the Bobcats 35-0 in their only meeting on Sept. 26.
“We’ll prepare for Bow Valley like any other team, we’ll watch film and practise hard to make sure the boys are ready to go out there and compete,” McNab said.
The Grade 12s from Cochrane High School know how important it is to be prepared for these next few weeks of games, because come league playoffs and provincials, one loss will knock your team out of contention.
“We just need to make sure all of the younger players know that they have to be ready to jump in whenever we need them,” says quarterback Brett Conlon.
“We practise every day knowing it could be our last and that’s what motivates us to go hard or go home.”
Cobras center Eric Bender, who has also been part of the last two provincial championships, had a bit of a different message.
“On our team we treat everyone the exact same. There are no better players than one another because we are only as strong as each other. That’s why every single week we don’t only push ourselves to the limits, but we all push each other to get better… we are a team, we win together, we lose together, but most important we grow as a whole and get better as a group,” Bender said.
“We don’t prepare our younger players, we work alongside them. It doesn’t matter what grade you’re in, with our team we are fighting for starting spots every week.
“The commitment level has been established with our group and moving onto the playoffs we need to meet that level to succeed … we get better every day.”
