Aaron Kruger carries the ball for the Hat High Hawks Friday night against the Cardston Cougars. The Hawks would go on to beat the Cougars 18-0 and improve to 3-0 on the season. -- NEWS PHOTO
JAMES TUBB
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com@ReporterTubb
Division 1 football hasn’t stopped the Hat High Hawks yet.
The Hawks beat the Cardston Cougars 18-0 Friday night to climb to 3-0 on the season, and 2-0 against D1 teams. Even with the shutout victory, Hawks coach Quinn Skelton doesn’t want guys to get too excited.
“Im not going to inflate any egos at this time, we know we’ve got a challenge ahead of us,” Skelton said.
The Hawks carried momentum throughout the game, with touchdowns in the first and third quarter. Brody Fink had Hat High’s first touchdown, with a pass to Logan Wells, and Tesema Veurink ran for 55 yards for the Hawks’ second touchdown.
Besides the win, it was a moral victory for the Hawks as Cardston beat Hat High big in a playoff game two years ago. It was a loss that was stuck in the head of Hawks players and coach Skelton.
“Last time we saw Cardston we lost I think 35-0 in a zone playoff, so coming back tonight and putting up 18-0 is awesome for our guys. Really gets it out of our head and a big boost. They are a tough team,” he said.
The Hawks announced earlier in the year they would be among seven teams, including Cardston, joining the Southern Alberta Division 1 league next season. This year, Hat High is playing exhibition games against the D1 teams while remaining in the Rangeland Football Conference for the season. They hope to play in both leagues again next year depending on player availability.
Hat High faces the McCoy Colts next Friday at 7 p.m., a game coach Skelton is looking forward to for his team.
“We’ll just continue working, Monday to Thursday at practice and we’ll get prepared and we’ll come out and give them a game. Simple as that,” Skelton said. “It’s always fun playing the city rivalry games and next Friday will be no different at all.”
For Carter Fischer, a Grade 12 Hawk who was on that losing team two years ago, Friday’s game was a great bit of revenge.
“Cardston put up a hell of a fight and I think we played to the best of our ability. It was all around a fun game. In Grade 10 we got stomped by these guys going into zones but it was really great for the Grade 12 guys to comeback and take back number one on them,” he said. “Having this win really means a lot to us.”
On the Cougars side of the field, head coach Josh Watson felt his squad simply didn’t execute.
“They played well and I didn’t feel like we showed up and played like we can,” said Watson. “They’re a good team and hats off to them.”
