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Voyageurs season cut short

The Bonnyville Voyageurs season has come to a close after a tough 49-7 loss to the Holy Rosary Raiders. The team travelled to Lloydminster Friday, Oct. 20 to take on the Raiders in what turned out to be a wet and muddy affair.
The Voyageurs’ season was cut short following a game against Holy Rosary Raiders.
The Voyageurs’ season was cut short following a game against Holy Rosary Raiders.

The Bonnyville Voyageurs season has come to a close after a tough 49-7 loss to the Holy Rosary Raiders.

The team travelled to Lloydminster Friday, Oct. 20 to take on the Raiders in what turned out to be a wet and muddy affair.

At first, there wasn't much between the teams, but a costly mistake late in the first quarter proved to be too much of a momentum swing for the Voyageurs to overcome.

“We had a good back and forth for the first half of the first quarter. Each possession was basically a two-and-out and a punt, until they punted to us and we ended up fumbling the ball on the seven-yard line. They scored on the next play, and that was just a huge needle in the balloon. Once that popped it went south in a hurry,” explained head coach Larry Godziuk.

With a couple of starters sidelined due to injury, the Voyageur defence couldn't keep up with the Raiders offence.

Despite the lopsided score, the Voyageurs showed no signs of quitting. Each player on the roster battled right up until the final whistle.

“The guys fought hard and never gave up. Unfortunately, we had two starters injured on defence and that really hurt us. With the score out-of-hand, we were able to get players who haven't seen the field in, and they got a quality second half of football. That was nice,” noted Godziuk.

Despite bowing out a little earlier than last year, the Voyageurs still managed to put up strong offensive numbers on their way to a third place finish in the Wheatland Football League (WFL) standings.

This year's team managed similar statistics to last year's championship winning squad. This is a positive the Voyageurs will look to build on, as they accomplished the numbers without the presence of a statistical standout.

Instead of having a 1,000-yard rusher like some other teams, Bonnyville moved the ball by committee, spreading the running back duties among four different players throughout the year.

“We had a well-rounded team. Our stats are actually very similar to last year's. We threw for a few hundred less yards, but we threw and ran just about as much as we did last year. We had a well balanced attack, there was no one guy,” said Godziuk.

Injuries to key players throughout the year played a large part in the Voyageurs undoing. Despite their early exit, they have a lot to look forward to heading into next season.

Godziuk expects to be able to fill key positions with more experienced players after a few of the team's Grade 10 players were forced into starting roles due to injury.

On defence, Brady Christians will be returning for his second season running things from the middle linebacker position, while the offence is also expected get their leader, Silas Fagnan back.

“The middle linebacker position is quite a responsibility. Sometimes as a Grade 10, he was on an island, and didn't know what was going on, but he ended up third on our team in tackles. That's really good for him. We also had Josh Morgan start all year at halfback and that's a challenging position at this level,” he explained.

This year's team will gather one last time on Dec. 6, where players, parents, and coaches will be recognized for their efforts at the teams year-end awards banquet. While they didn't get the result they wanted, a resilient group of Voyageurs can finish the season knowing they gave it their all.

“We were always happy with our team's effort. We just didn't execute on Friday, but that had a lot to do with the guys we were missing on defence, and we just couldn't find a rhythm on offence,” said Godziuk.

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