It was hard to tell who was cheering louder, the fans of the Cochrane Cobras or the W. H. Croxford Cavaliers.
What they all enjoyed was a high school football game that lived up to the hype of the top two teams in the Rocky View league going head-to-head to see who would finish on top of the heap.
In the end, the Cobras won 28-16 on Oct. 14 at the SLS Legacy Sports Field to finish first in the regular season.
After a scoreless first quarter, the Cavaliers capitalized on a pick by Dylan Shaver, who took it deep into Cobras zone. Cavalier Bryce Hansen punched it in a few plays later.
The Cobras responded with 1:38 remaining in the half when QB Christian Golem connected on a touchdown pass to Chase Hunter.
Gustavo Groeneveld picked a wayward pass from Cavalier QB Jager Kleisinger deep in the Cobras zone and made it to the Cavaliers' two-yard line before being tackled. Ethan Price made it a touchdown on the next play with 20 seconds remaining in the half to take a 14-7 lead.
Price ran in his second touchdown with 2:18 remaining in the third, and less than two minutes later, the Cavaliers' Tyson Heather scored to end the third quarter, 21-14.
Halfway through the fourth, Hunter got his second of the night to round out the Cobras' scoring.
The Cavaliers kept pressing and the Cobras bought a little time from a fake punt by Ethan Clazie. But the Cobras found themselves caught deep in their own zone again and gave up a safety before running out the clock.
Cavaliers head coach Josiah Donahue called the interception late in the second quarter a game-changer.
"The big turning point was the pick at the end of the second quarter. We were driving and hoping to get a field goal at least, and then they turned that into seven points against us."
He called the Cobras a great team that doesn't make many mistakes. The Cavaliers goal is to now focus on execution and the little things in preparation for their provincial qualifier against the Bert Church Chargers.
"Right now, it's make it or break it, and playing great teams is always going to make you better," he says.
The Cavaliers are ranked second in Alberta in tier 2 football behind the HTA Knights. The Chargers aren't ranked in the top 10.
Tyson Heather scored the Cavaliers second touchdown but later in the game was sidelined by an injury. He vows to be back.
"It could have been a lot better," he said, visibly in pain. "We've got more things to work on. Overall, I think it was good, but you can't win them all."
Since joining the team in grade 10, he says there has been plenty of improvement in their play. He attributes that to a lot of off-season work, and more team chemistry.
Cobras head coach Rob McNab says it was the game they expected from an undefeated team.
"They're playing well, they're playing confident, they've got some great players, some good size, and it was exactly what we expected," says McNab. "What I didn't expect was us turning the ball over as much. So, that's something definitely we're going to clean up."
Chase Hunter didn't allow five stitches in his knee he received when crashing into a bench at practice Tuesday to stop him from playing.
"I'm pretty sore right now, but just toughened up, put some tape over, and got back on the field."
Hunter is new to the Cobras, although his parents grew up here, and last played for the Kelowna Owls. The Grade 12 student enjoys being a Cobra.
"We executed. We didn't do as well in the first half but we came back in the second half. We knew what we had to do and got the job done."
The week previous in a scrimmage against the HTA Knights, Hunter visited the end zone regularly.
"A lot of teams play zone coverage, and HTA is an excellent team, but they played man coverage and I have excellent speed. When we saw that speed go against those DBs it was five touchdowns right there."
Hunter says, unlike the Knights, the Cavaliers played zone defense on Friday.
"They didn't give us a lot of reads, so it was different every time they ran the defense. A lot of DBs would drop so we had to play off that. It was a defense that I hadn't seen before, and they're definitely an excellent team."
McNab praised the play of Hunter but also shone the spotlight on Ethan Clazie, who is without question one of the top receivers in the province.
"The catch he made in the fourth quarter that put us up, that's a next-level catch. Most kids would have given up on that pass and he didn't. Wow!"
The Rocky View playoff schedule will be announced soon. The first round of provincials gets underway in early November.
