The Cochrane Cobras football team started their Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) season the same way they've finished their last 37 games. With a 40-9 victory over the Springbank Phoenix on Sept. 8, the Cobras have stretched their win streak to 38 games, one shy of the provincial record of 39 previously set by the Raymond Comets in the early 2000s. The game started out looking like it was going to be a close contest as the Cobras actually trailed early in the first quarter. After Cochrane High managed a field goal, Springbank scored on a long touchdown pass to take a 7-3 lead before Cochrane High regrouped to take a 17-9 advantage midway through the second quarter and a 32-9 lead into half time after blowing the game wide open resulting in the game's final score of 40-9. The Cobras are coming off a season where they dominated the competition, going undefeated throughout the RVSA regular season with a 6-0 record, as well as winning all four Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) Provincial games including a 21-14 victory over the Holy Rosary Raiders in the provincial championship game on Nov. 24 in Lacombe. In those 10 games, the Cobras outscored their opponents by an astounding margin of 414-53, where Cochrane High averaged 41 points per game while never giving up more than 14 points en route to the team’s fourth straight provincial championship. Cobras co-head coach Rob McNab was fairly pleased with how his team rebounded from the deficit, saying a little bit of adversity will help the group in the long run. "For the first game out I thought we did a pretty good job. We got to get our running game a little bit more on the same page as our passing game bu,t yeah, overall it was pretty good," McNab said. "Adversity is always good as long as you learn from it. They got a long touchdown pass on us and all of a sudden we're down ... just have to keep telling the kids, 'hey, it's a long game let's keep doing what we're doing and we'll be successful.'" "As for the record, we're definitely not ignoring it but our focus is on a provincial championship and week-to-week we want to go out and play as best we can. We're certainly aware of it and it's a nice record to have, a little feather in our cap with our program but our main focus is game-to-game to make sure we go out there and play to the best of our abilities." A few players stood out over the course of the game for the Cobras, including star quarterback Xavier Valliancourt as well as receivers Dylan Neis and Dawson Laye. "They're the top three main players in our offence. Xavier was 18 of 32 for 332 yards and three touchdowns, so that's a good afternoon considering it was windy at the beginning of the game and there was about five dropped balls, three going towards the endzone that kids were dropping but he (Xavier) had a great day in his first start as our quarterback," McNab said of his signal callers play. "Dylan and Dawson are our best players ... they've got to play well each week. Between them, they had eight catches for 210 yards and four touchdowns so it says a lot that we have to get the ball to them because they can definitely play for sure." The Cobras will be looking to tie the provincial record of 38 consecutive wins when they take on the 2-0 Bert Church Chargers on Sept. 15 at noon at Spray Lake Sawmills Legacy Field.
