Briana Shymanski/Rocky View Publishing

Lucas Charuk of the Bert Church Chargers surveys the field as he leads an offensive rush against the Chestermere Cowboys, Oct. 11. The Chargers defeated the Cowboys 21-16 and then lost to the Cochrane Cobras, Oct. 16. The team will now play Springbank in the RVSA Tier II semi finals, Oct. 20.

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Chargers defeat Cowboys, lose to Cobras in advance of playoffs

After two difficult losses, the Bert Church Chargers football team evened its regular season record with a 21-16 win over the Chestermere Cowboys, Oct. 11.

There was only one place the Chargers were hoping to go after losing to the Springbank Phoenix and the Airdrie Bowl title to the George McDougall Mustangs, and that was up. A solid defence and a stellar game by Karl Louder helped them get there.

“Our defence picked up the intensity in this game,” said Chargers Head Coach Andy Kirk. “They played much better than they have and they’ve been getting better in the past couple of weeks. It’s the little things where we shoot ourselves in the foot now and again. The odd play here and there makes a difference.”

Louder scored two of the team’s three touchdowns. The speedy Grade 12 student credited the offensive line for helping him break through the Chestermere defence and for being the difference-makers after the two previous losses.

“They were the heroes of the game,” he said. “They made my job a lot easier.”

“Karl did very well,” Kirk added. “He’s very good with his speed and he’s quite strong. A big part of tonight was that he was able to have the ball more. Blocks were happening that we haven’t seen in the past, so that really helped and then he took advantage of that.”

The Chargers were able to shut down the Cowboys’ star player, Eric Taubert, which was a focus for the team after Chestermere started to launch a comeback in the second half.

“It was the simple thing of keeping our focus and moving our feet,” said Kirk. “Taubert is such a good player and we needed to make sure that we were able to contain him and limit what he was able to do and we were pretty good with that.”

For Chestermere, being shut out 14-0 in the first half was a less than ideal way to start the game and while they came alive to score two touchdowns in the second half, it wasn’t enough to break through for the win.

“Going down 14-0 early in high school football isn’t an easy deficit to come back from,” said Cowboys Head Coach Brian Utley. “It’s demoralizing to start a game off that way and we need to come with more urgency and intensity next time.”

The Chargers played one final regular season game, a makeup game from one postponed in September, against the Cochrane Cobras, Oct. 16. The Cobras defeated the Chargers 38-14. Bert Church will now play Springbank in the second Tier II semi final on Oct. 20 at 3 p.m. in Springbank while the Cowboys will visit George McDougal in the first semi final, Oct. 19 at 4:30 p.m. at Genesis Place Field in Airdrie. After finishing at the top of the standings, the Cochrane Cobras will play the sixth-place Bow Valley Bobcats, Oct. 20 at 12 p.m.