Despite an ice-cold evening punctuated by pouring rain, the Springbank High School Phoenix football team was all smiles as it won its home opener 26-0 against Airdrie’s WH Croxford Cavaliers on Sept.8.
“I thought Croxford played really hard and did quite well for a first game,” said Phoenix head coach Tony Lucas. “They had good numbers turn out (38) and we had 27, so it took a while for us to get going but, overall I thought we played pretty well.”
The windy conditions at Springbank Park For All Seasons meant the Phoenix couldn’t play their passing offence as much as they would have liked but, it didn’t matter in the end as the home team’s defence stepped up to shut down the Cavaliers.
“Our defence played really well and if we struggled it was on offence,” Lucas said. “It was a tough day to throw the ball. We like to have a balanced offence but unfortunately we had to run most of the time.”
One player in particular Lucas was quick to praise was Grade 12 middle linebacker Daniel Teitz (younger brother of former Phoenix player and current University of Calgary Dino Micah).
“He is our best player and our leader,” Lucas said. “He’s been forced to play on both sides of the ball because of some injuries we’ve suffered and he’s been a standout.”
On top of playing a strong running game, Lucas believes the Phoenix still have work to do on the disciplinary side of things as they picked up almost 200 yards in penalties.
“That was our biggest problem,” Lucas admitted. “We lost forced turnovers and lost yards gained on a number of important plays.”
The Phoenix don’t have a lot of time to remedy the situation as they travel to the Bert Church High School Chargers (who lost their opener 28-7 against the Bow Valley High School Bobcats on Sept. 9) on Sept. 16 in a game that always proves to be a tricky battle.
“I don’t have any idea how it’s going to go,” Lucas said of the encounter. “Looking at the other results really doesn’t mean anything. We saw them at the jamboree in Cochrane the other week and they looked good so we’ll just have to see what happens.”
Kick-off for the game is 4:30 p.m. at Ed Eggerer Athletic Park in Airdrie.
