While the Cochrane High Cobras and Bow Valley Bobcats football team's are headed in different directions at the end of the Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) regular season, both are gearing up for their respective league playoffs which begin Oct. 19 and 20. The young Bobcats have struggled this season, going winless throughout the regular season including a 14-0 loss to the Bert Church Chargers on Oct. 4, placing them in the 'B' playoffs with one-win Chestermere Cowboys who Bow Valley lost to due to forfeit and the two-win W.H. Croxford Cavaliers who beat the Bobcats 27-0 in the regular season. While the team only scored 26 points while allowing over 100, there are a few bright spots the 'Cats can look forward to moving into the next few years including Grade 10 quarterback Brody Sidebottom who didn't look much out of place in his first season of organized football. The Bobcats first playoff game will be on Oct. 19 when they travel to Chestermere to take on the Cowboys with kick off going at 6:30 p.m. The Cobras on the other hand, look dominant per usual as the four-time defending Tier 3 provincial champions once again found themselves on top of the food chain with a 6-0 record including a 35-14 victory over the Cavaliers on Oct. 13. Cochrane High finished the season with 236 points for while averaging nearly 40 points per game, in comparison to the 39 points the team gave up averaging out to 6 points per game. The Cobras first playoff contest will come Oct. 20 against the 3-3 Bert Church Chargers who they defeated 57-0 earlier in the year. Cobras co-head coach Rob McNab said he was happy that his team finished the season undefeated but said some of the younger kids will have to step up and perform as the Cobras are dealing with many injuries to starting players including to star wide receiver Dawson Laye. "The game (against the Cavaliers) wasn't our best effort on offence for sure but considering we just got back from Los Angeles and with the amount of snow on the field that it disrupted practices throughout the week, I thought we did OK. We have a lot of injuries right now so we got a lot of young kids playing spots that they haven't played," McNab said. "We're not doing too good right now on the injury front ... we're really banged up. We got quality guys filling in so that's the thing that'll help us through this. Hopefully we get a couple guys back by the time provincials sets around, but in these next two games we're going to have to work hard with these back up kids for sure." McNab said that he can feel the energy and excitement from the team heading into this weekend's game against Bert Church, a team that brings an edge to their game, something that Cochrane High found out earlier this year. With that being said, McNab and the rest of the Cobras coaching staff preach discipline every week they take the field. "We were in the film room this week in preparation for Bert Church and the boys are quite excited ... we know they (Bert Church) will be ready as they've improved all year so they get another crack at us so we're looking forward to some good football here this weekend," said McNab. "We just have to play discipline, no penalties and just keep working hard while doing the right things. Let the referees handle the game instead of us ... often the kids think they can take charge of it, but that's not the case. The referees take charge of the game and I'm anticipating no problems on Saturday." The last few weeks of the regular season have been miserable weather wise with dumps of snow and frigid temperatures which doesn't necessarily favour the Cobras high flying aerial attack. This weekend though is suppose to be sunny with plus temperatures, which should give Cochrane High an advantage in their first playoff game. "The good weather helps us immensely. We're a team built around throwing the ball and if the weather was like last week with it being cold, rainy and windy, that puts a little bit of pressure and stress on us," McNab said. "So if the weather is nice this weekend, we'll go in with a different mindset than if it wasn't that nice. But we know down the road the weather is going to get nasty ... always has, always will so we've got to be prepared for that too. So you're kind of in a catch 22 with the weather thing for sure." Kick off for the Cobras game will take place at noon up at Spray Lake Sawmills Legacy Field.
