The Bonnyville Bandits bantam football squad thumped the Cold Lake Royals 73-0 on a rainy, windy afternoon at Walsh Field on Saturday.
The young Royals team was no match for the Bandits, who were faster and stronger than their rivals.
“I don't like a lopsided battle like that,” said Bandits coach Dan Jubinville after the victory. “I had guys playing positions they had never played before to try and keep (the score) down.”
The Bandits scored five touchdowns through the air, four on the ground and one via an interception return.
One of the biggest plays of the game came late in the first half. The Royals, down 32-0, tried to connect on a huge passing play down field. The ball ended up in the hands of Bandits Silas Fagnan who snagged the errant pass at his own 25-yard line and rumbled 85 yards down the field for the touchdown.
“We have a lot of fast guys in the front and a lot of fast guys in the back and they shut them down hard. We had big games out of everyone,” said Jubinville.
As the game moved along Bonnyville started experimenting and moving players around, throwing them in different positions.
The Bandits even had several lineman sub in as running backs on several two-point convert attempts trying not to score, but those players came through and tacked on the points anyways.
The game was 38-0 at half time and just proceeded to get worse for Cold Lake as they couldn't stop the speed of the Bandits.
Evan Fritzler added a 60-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, which was followed up by a 50-yard touchdown dash from Fagnan.
“It was a strong win. I hope the boys aren't too confident when we go up against a different opponent,” said Jubinville. “Hopefully they stay reserved and we keep excelling.”
Jubinville gave kudos to the local officiating crew, who called a tight, clean game once the score started to get out of hand.
“If the game starts to get lopsided you have to play the game cleaner than clean can be,” said Jubinville. “They are going to call everything no matter how small when you are up like that. The refs did a heck of a job. They called what needed to be called.”
The Bandits will travel to Lloydminster to take on the Mustangs next Saturday.
