Hawks, Colts gear up for Friday night matchup

By JAMES TUBB on September 15, 2022.

Another high school football rivalry will be rekindled this week at the Methanex Bowl.

The McCoy Colts senior varsity team is hosting the Medicine Hat High Hawks on Friday night for the first matchup of the two schools this season.

Colts head coach Jole Krassman said he is looking forward to seeing what his young team can bring against the Hawks.

“Having limited coaches to help out with is definitely a challenge and it will continue to be a challenge until we get some more full-time help, but from what we’ve been working on in the practice plan that we put into place, I think progression is happening and we’re just we’re looking forward to the process,” Krassman said. “I’m looking forward to see what we can bring from the skills that we’ve worked on in practice and just watch them transfer over into the game. We’re just looking for successes, winning the individual battles, winning the small victories on the field, that’s what we’re aiming for.”

The Colts enter the contest coming off a bye week full of practices. Krassman said they approached the practices as an open tryout with all starting spots available to new players and those who were already on the team.

“We’re really starting to see some people stepping up. The expected guys are really stepping up but even some of the unexpected guys. There’s younger talent that’s coming out, really showing their heart, their grit and their attention to detail,” Krassman said. “We’ve had a couple of receivers out there making some catches and we have some running backs, they’re stepping up. Some of our international students have never played football but they’re coming out and proving themselves into the spot. So it was really good to see it was really going to be good practice.”

The Hawks are coming off a 10-9 comeback road win over the Lloydminster Barons. Hawks head coach Quinn Skelton said it was a gritty performance by his team and one they look to build off.

“Their quarterback is probably the best quarterback we’ve seen to date and the kids just played against them really well. Llyodminster is well coached and has some good athletes,” Skelton said. “I think it’s a rebound off our HTA loss. Kids wanted to prove themselves and play hard.”

Hat High opened their season with a 47-7 loss to Holy Trinity Academy on Aug. 26 before following that up with a 67-0 win over the Brooks Bombers on Sept. 1.

Skelton said their approach heading into this week was the same they started the season with, taking things a game at a time.

“We don’t want to disrespect McCoy in any way and take them lightly, so we’re preparing as hard as hard as we can for McCoy and making sure we play our game,” Skelton said. “Just making sure we play our level of play and looking for execution in all aspects of the game. For us, it’s one week at a time, one game at a time and we get better each week.”

On the other side of the field, Krassman said the message to his team heading into the contest is flipping the switch once the ball is kicked off.

“With football, it’s a game where you’re starting and stopping so much and that five to seven seconds of relentless effort is what we’re looking for,” Krassman said. “Getting the start coming out fast, coming out hungry, turning that switch on and being aggressive early.

That’s kind of the message we’ve been trying to give the kids and so we’ve been starting off practice with a lot of hitting and a lot of contact, a lot of just motivation to try to get the blood pumping, and to get them into that aggressive mindset right off the bat.

“Once we’ve done that, we’re finding that the mental focus and the intensity of staying up through the practices, we’re really progressing and really happy with the way that practice has gone.”

While the Hawks and Colts face off in their 7 p.m. contest at the Methanex Bowl, the Crescent Heights Vikings are in Brooks for a road contest against the Buffalos.

Editors note: An earlier version of the story stated the Hawks and Colts game starts at 7:30 p.m. Game time is set for 7 p.m.