The Cochrane High School Cobras started off their season the same way they finished the last three years, with a win.
The Cobras went into Springbank and took home a 35-10 decision over the home side on Sept. 8, in a game they controlled from the opening kickoff. Cochrane High scored on its first two possessions, when quarterback Brett Conlon hit touchdown passes to receivers Jack Tocher and Daniel de Bruin to make it 14-0.
“We were very confident coming into this game, we knew we had to practise hard due to the size of their defence, but after the first two drives of the game I believe we set the tone and gained a lot of confidence, I knew we had to come out fast.” Conlon said. “For this next game against Vernon I expect all the first game jitters to be gone and we’ll hit them hard.”
At 11:25 of the second quarter, slot back Dylan Neis took a handoff from Conlon on a sweep and scored to increase the Cobras lead to 21-0. The Phoenix cut the deficit to 18 when they hit a 30 yard field goal to make it 21-3. Just before halftime, Springbank was moving the ball looking to bring the Cobras lead to 12, when Phoenix quarterback Grady Munro was picked off by Cochrane High safety Joseph Bell. Bell took the interception to the house to all but put the game away with the score 28-3. Bell finished the game with two interceptions, one later in the fourth quarter that sealed the win for Cochrane.
Springbank made the game 28-10 in the third quarter before Conlon once again made the Phoenix defence pay by finding Dawson Laye downfield to round out the scoring 35-10.
Cobras co-head coach Rob McNab was happy with his team’s win, and thought the game was a good test early on.
“We had some kids that didn’t start last year, who got to start their first league game, Springbank played well and were very competitive, which forced our kids to play almost to the end of the fourth quarter, so that was definitely a good thing for us.”
Running back and linebacker Jackson McLean had an outstanding game on both sides of the ball, breaking off some long runs while making several tackles and recording a sack.
“As a team we really performed well, especially for our first game of the season. It was definitely a team effort and we came out on top, that’s what matters.”
When asked to rate his team’s season opening performance McLean said, “Personally, I thought I had a very good game having over 150 total yards on offence, as well as having a sack and multiple tackles on defence.”
The Cobras will not play again until Sept. 23, as the team is travelling to Vernon for an exhibition game against the Vernon Panthers as well a trip to Seattle for some team bonding.
“It’s an amazing trip, we go away every year. We’ve been to Texas, California and Seattle before and when you have grade 10s, 11s and 12s on the same team, sometimes within the school they’re separate.” McNab said. “Now, they’re forced to be together and they make good friendships and good bonds, and they learn to trust each other ... In order to become a team. I think every team should do a trip like this.”
