With their season on the line, the Bonnyville Voyageurs earned a dominant 49-21 win over the Wainwright Commandos.
The Voyaguers welcomed the Commandos to Walsh Field on Saturday, Oct. 14, for their first Wheatland Football League (WFL) playoff game of the season.
A pair of touchdown catches from Drake Boulianne helped the Voyageurs jump out to an early 21-0 lead. Thanks in large part to the play of two of their leaders, Bonnyville's offence was firing on all cylinders and making big plays whenever they got the chance.
“We stuck with our base offence but added some plays in to our offensive set. I thought we executed well. Evan Fritzler probably had his best offensive game of the year, and Silas Fagnan threw well when he had to throw well,” detailed head coach Larry Godziuk.
In the second half, with the score getting out of hand, Godziuk began to shuffle his lineup, trying players at new positions. Even with the modified lineup the Voyageurs were too much for the Commandos.
Backup quarterback Aaron Goultet filled in nicely for Fagnan in the second half, operating the offence seamlessly. He made the most of his time under centre, connecting with Boulianne and Brodie Gamble on touchdown passes, putting the contest out of reach.
“We came out firing today which was exactly what we needed to do. We all but solidified a win in the first half, and in the second half we got our backups reps. With the injuries we have had this year, we need that,” said Goulet.
The offensive line also had a big day, controlling their blocking better than they have in previous weeks. Throughout the season, blocking up front has been an area of concern for the Voyageurs.
This caused the coaching staff to focus extra attention to the issue both on the field and in the film room when preparing for Wainwright.
“I was really nervous going in, but the whole team played well. The o-line blocked well, the running backs ran well and the receivers were getting open,” explained Goulet.
The win sets the Voyageurs up for an away matchup Friday, Oct. 20 with the Holy Rosary Raiders in Lloydminster. There, Bonnyville will try to avenge an earlier regular season loss to the Raiders by eliminating them from the WFL playoffs.
In the meantime, the banged up Bonnyville team will have a few days to study their opponents tendencies, and more importantly, rest up.
“We've got to get healthy, we have a lot of injuries. A lot of guys had time in today. Hopefully we can use that. We had a 14-14 game at halftime with them last time in Lloydminster and we were just too banged up in the second half and couldn't keep up. We're hoping to be healthy, and we're hoping to execute better,” said Godziuk.
