By Robb Fenton
Neither team needs any motivation to get ready for Friday’s game.
The third regular season battle between the two Lloydminster high schools – Holy Rosary and Lloyd Comp – is set for this week and as usual, bragging rights, first place and home field advantage will all be on the line at Armstrong Field.
“I’m extremely excited, I was excited for this game at the start of the season,” Barons linebacker Brett Morrow said.
The Raiders feel the same way, as they look to send a message to their cross-town rivals.
“We’re very excited, it’s going to be an awesome game. It’s what we’ve been waiting for the whole year,” Raiders quarterback Ty Wilson said.
Both coaches know the magnitude of the game and are excited to see what their teams can do against what will be,the toughest competition of the season.
“It will be nice. We’ve been in a three-year process with these guys, building up the Grade 12s and I coached a lot of the Grade 12s over there (at Holy Rosary) in bantam, so it will be nice to see what they’ve grown to become as football players. It will be fun for sure,” Barons head coach Justin Kelly said.
Raiders bench boss Vince Orieux is looking for his team to take the next step Friday afternoon.
“It’s going to be a good game. We’re focussed this year on representing our league in provincials,” he said. “Every week we want to get better, regardless of who we’re playing. We want to improve and we need to do that in order to go deep in league and deep into provincials. No matter who we have each week, we want to get better.”
In the past two regular season meetings, the teams have each won once – the Raiders 16-10 in 2009 and the Barons 18-8 in 2008. The league finals, however, have both gone to the Barons, a trend the Raiders would like to change this year.
“We’ll watch some film and get the guys focussed in on what they have to do. We’ll bring intensity into practice, bring competition into practice. We’ll tell the guys they’ll be fighting for first place,” Orieux said. “If they want it bad enough, they have to bring it this week. Practice should be fun.”
Both teams know the keys to a game like this and both are preparing to hopefully shut down the other team’s weapons.
“We’re going to have to limit (Drew) Bexson. We’re never going stop him, he’s too good. There’s no question about that. If we can stop him from busting the big one, that’s probably our biggest key,” Kelly said. “Keep him in check as much as possible. And on defence, we have to adjust and communicate. They’re going to give us a lot of different looks and we have to be ready for all of it and communicate on the field.”
The Raiders scored points in several different ways in a victory over Vermilion, something they plan to continue Friday.
“We have to have our defence, click on offensive on every level and just bring everything we’ve got,” Wilson said. “It’s good to see lots of depth, scoring in every way. It’s nice to see we can do it at all levels.”
First place likely comes down to Friday and may be a preview of the league finals for a third straight season.
“There are bragging rights every time we face off,” Morrow said.
Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. at Armstrong Field.