Vikings fall to Taber Friday

By James Tubb on September 9, 2022.

The Crescent Heights Vikings picked up their first loss of the season Friday night.

The Vikings fell 23-7 to the W.R. Myers Rebels from Taber at the Methanex bowl. Crescent Heights head coach Scott Wendell tipped his hat to Taber and said the Vikings were undisciplined in the loss.

“Taber did what we thought they would do defensively, they were really aggressive and we knew they’d stuff up the middle on us and force us to pass and force us to go vertical, so hats off to Tabor, they were well coached and well executed and they they came to play today,” Wendell said. “On our end, I think there were a lot of opportunities where we really shot ourselves in the foot and made the game more difficult than it needed to be. We had an interception at the last play of the halftime that went for a touchdown, that got called back for a block in the back that wasn’t necessary. We had a mental error on a missed field goal. That’s 140 yards difference for us and just a range of penalties that were really undisciplined.”

Taber led the Vikings 3-0 at halftime and jumped ahead 9-0 in the third quarter before Crescent Heights got on the board. A lengthy drive for the Vikings was capitalized on with a passing touchdown from Carter Schneider to Finn Unger that brought them within two.

The Rebels capitalized quickly with a punt return touchdown to take the momentum before adding to their lead again the in the fourth quarter for their ultimate winning lead of 23-7.

Wendell said they’re not looking to make excuses but will build from the loss.

“We want to be focused on ourselves and getting better and taking responsibility for everything. So we’re going to work hard to clean up the errors, we’re going to work hard as coaches to teach the kids the game and clean up some of those mental errors,” Wendell said. “The good thing is when we use a game like this week, we can identify a range of things that we can get better on and we have a full week of practice for the first time this season. We have the coaches out, we know there’s a dozen different things on offence and defence that we can do to improve and that’s kind of the the thing we’re going to focus on and just come back on Monday and get better.”

The Vikings next game is Friday in Brooks against the Bombers. Wendell said he was impressed by Lucas Selinger and other young Vikings in Friday night’s contest.

“He had a really nice reception early in the first that got a lot of momentum for us and some of our our younger players were really leading the way and we’re going to have those young players push us in practice each week and push our Grade 11 and 12’s to get better and improve,” Wendell said. “As coaches that’s our job to teach them the game and work on some of the skills and come back next week. If we can see some improvement and some some growth, that’s the positive that we’re looking for. ”

Hat High makes comeback win

The Hat High Hawks were also in action Friday night, playing on the road in Lloydminister.

The Hawks completed a comeback, beating Lloydminister in a close 10-9 game. They’re back in action next Friday at the Methanex Bowl against the McCoy Colts who were on a bye week.

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