NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Hat High’s Aaron Kruger is chased into the end zone during the first quarter of the Hawks game Friday night against the Crescent Heights Vikings. Kruger had three touchdowns to lead Hat High to a 34-7 victory.
The Hawks remained perfect Friday night, beating the Crescent Heights Vikings 34-7.
Hat High scored early on the back of Aaron Kruger’s three touchdowns and held that lead throughout the game, holding the Vikings to zero until the fourth quarter. For Kruger, his first game back after missing time with a concussion, his big game was because of the team in front of him.
“I just trust my teammates, I trusted the (offensive) line to block for me and they did. That’s the only reason I was able to get my touchdowns, it’s a team effort,” Kruger said.
He had two rushing touchdowns and was on the finishing end of a long receiving TD for the Hawks. Kruger said he was glad to be back on the field and that Hat High’s 5-0 record is only, “a great start and they’ve got to get better.”
Hawks head coach Quinn Skelton was happy with how his team and Kruger played in the victory. He said it was just his night to take over.
“Aaron’s a hell of an athlete, he plays in the basketball program as well. Kai Noon has had a couple hot games and tonight it was Kruger’s turn. It’s great seeing those athletes do what they do,” he said.
Like Kruger, Skelton was happy with how his team played and called it a team effort for the Hawks. He says they will have a hard week of work ahead of them ahead of their matchup next week against Foothills High.
“They’re a team that we’ve run into in provincial finals probably five times and they’re a very good program. A lot of respect for the Okotoks,” Skelton said. That game goes Friday night at the Methanex bowl with kick off at 5 p.m..
Across the field, the Vikings saw their perfect record disappear as they now sit 3-1 on the season. For head coach Sean Davis, losing that record isn’t the worst thing.
“It’s a tough thing to carry around with ya, we don’t like to lose. We hate to lose. But we just have to get ready for next week and be ready to go,” he said.
Crescent Heights had a lot of promising moments throughout the game forcing multiple turnovers but could not mount a comeback. Davis said it was the little mistakes and they just shot themselves in the foot, something he says you can’t do against a team like Hat High.
“We didn’t play our best game, I think we came out a little flat footed. A good team like Medicine Hat High school when they get up on ya, it’s a difficult road to come back. It’s a learning experience and hopefully we’ll get better next week,” Davis said.
Davis says they need hard work to get ready for next week’s game and they have to start picking on the little things to get better. The Vikings travel to Airdrie next Sunday to take on Croxford high in an afternoon game.
