Cochrane High Cobras romped to the Alberta Schools' Athletic Association (ASAA) Tier 3 Provincial Football Championship with a resounding 55-0 win over Holy Rosary Raiders in Edmonton on Nov. 28.
Cochrane High Cobras romped to the Alberta Schools' Athletic Association (ASAA) Tier 3 Provincial Football Championship with a resounding 55-0 win over Holy Rosary Raiders in Edmonton on Nov. 28.
The victory, marked Cochrane High's third provincial title in four years (13th overall), and was the crown jewel in a stellar year for Cobras which saw them go undefeated in pre-season, regular-season, and play-off games, starting back in September with a 40-6 win over South Delta High School (the number 2 ranked team in Canada, and the then reigning B.C. Tier 1 Provincial Champions).
After winning the championship last year, with a 49-14 win over Whitecourt Cats, Cobras went into this year's final looking to repeat with a group of eager rookies and seasoned veterans prepared to do the business and see that all of their hard work and dedication was rewarded with the ultimate prize.
Ethan Forrest, Cole Avery, Dawson Price, Spence Marchand, Zach Rabe, and Erik Nusl (three) all scored touchdowns for Cobras as they stormed out of the gates early and never looked back. Quarterback Tae Gordon threw for 328 yards, and set an ASAA record with six TD passes.
“The guys played very well, ” Rob McNab, Cobras co-head coach and offensive coordinator said.
“We broke some records with that win, so it was a great day for us. ”
It was a great year for Erik Nusl, as he was dominant on both the football field for Cochrane High School Cobras and in the swimming pool for Cochrane Piranhas.
The provincial age-group record-holder (15-17 boy's) in the 100-metre butterfly won all four individual races at the Alberta Summer Swimming Association meet held Aug. 14-16 in Edmonton. He added a gold medal in boy's 15-17 200m medley relay. He was named the meet's top male swimmer for the third-straight year.
“It was pretty exciting. We had a really good team this year, ” Nusl said. “Even without the individual stuff, we won the team relay. It was a deep team this year. We have lots of good, experienced swimmers. Especially in the older boy's categories. Which we haven't had in a long time. ”
At Region E regionals in Calgary earlier in the year, the 17-year-old Cochrane High School multi-sport athlete (football, track) swam a provincial-record time (58.88) in the 100-metre butterfly.
When the Wrestling Canada Lutte national championships had ended on April 12, the Cochrane Cowboys rode into the sunset with a saddlebag full of medals.
Cochrane's Connor McNeice was quickest Cowboy off the draw, winning the Cadet male freestyle national wrestling title at 58 kilograms, qualifying for world wrestling tournaments on Team Canada and being named most outstanding Cadet male wrestler at the national tournament.
Teammate Brendan McKeage wasn't far behind, winning gold in 50-kg Cadet freestyle and 50-kg Cadet Greco-Roman. He was named an alternate for Canada's Federation Internationale des Luttes Associees (FILA) team.
Sarah Gregory won gold in female 46-kg freestyle and was named an alternate for Canada's FILA world team.
Callum McNeice won bronze in 58-kg juvenile freestyle and silver in 58-kg Greco Roman. Aidan McKeage took bronze in 69-kg juvenile freestyle.
Cowboys wrestling coach Vern McNeice, Callum and Connor's dad, hadn't the words to describe how well all of Cochrane's seven wrestlers competed at nationals. But he did his best.
“I don't know what to say, ” said coach McNeice, hoarse from a weekend of cheering his group on at the April 10-12 national wrestling tournament in Fredericton, N.B. “They wrestled their hearts out. It was a good tournament. ”
At the Western Canada Summer Games held in Wood Buffalo in August, Connor McNeice won gold.
He was one of three Cowboys to medal at the Games, with Brendan McKeage taking silver in the 54-kilogram male event. Cochrane's Connor Pointen was fourth in the 100-kg male competition, but took home silver for Team Alberta's second-place finish at the Games. B.C. won the team wrestling title.
McNeice carved through the Western Canada Games wrestling competition Aug. 9-11 in the 58-kilogram male division.
The 16-year-old St. Timothy School student went undefeated in six matches (one walkover), defeating B.C.'s Amar Atwal in the gold-medal match.
“It's definitely been helping me, ” he said of a spring/summer in which he won a national title in April and silver July 5 at the Pan-American Cadet Wrestling Championships in Mexico.
