The Kindersley Kobras are off to the provincial finals in Lumsden on Saturday, following a 26-14 win over the visiting Humboldt Broncos. Members of the team, beginning in front, from left, are Jorden Hanson, Daniel Anderson, Damian Cormons, Kyle Edmunds, Ryan Olivier, Bricen Allin, Brandon Veldhoen, Kevin Pinno and Hudson Bahm. Standing are Jacob Ortman, Declan Smit, Thulani Baloyi, Cody Reiter, Shaun Cranston, Tristan Benson, Dexter Francis (in behind), Dylan Schmidt, A.J. King (in behind), Cole Milner, Brody Malcolm (in behind), Happy Maru (water boy), Sam Toth (in behind), Tiernan Elliott and Aaron Wipf.

Kevin McBain
of The Clarion

The Kindersley Composite School football Kobras are off to the provincial finals for the first time in 47 years.

The Kobras defeated the visiting Humboldt Mohawks 26-14 on a cool Saturday afternoon to advance to the 3A nine-man provincial finals in Lumsden, on the quest to win the school’s first-ever provincial football championship.

The weather conditions were a bit less than ideal, sitting at around -12C and the field was thick with snow Saturday morning. But thanks to the efforts of Eric Friesen and Curtis Bahm. who brought in their skid steers and volunteers who helped shovel, the field was cleared off. Heaters were donated and the sun was shining, making for not a bad day after all.

Kyle Edmunds of the Kobras makes the dive for a fumbled football against a Humboldt player.

The Kobras defence had the Humboldt Mohawks quarterback on his heels for most of the game Saturday. Here, Aaron Wipf is about to take a shot at him.

“We can’t thank the parents and volunteers enough. And the donations of heaters from the businesses. Everyone really came together for this game,” said coach Tavis Lehman.

The Kobras came out of the gate strong and worked their way to a 10-0 lead, after a field goal and a touchdown by Ryan Olivier.

The Mohawks responded with a touchdown on a 40-yard run by Dawson Hering to make it 10-7 late in the half.

However, the home side was quick to get back into it with Kevin Pinno scoring a major with just six seconds remaining in the half to make the score 17-7.

In the second half, it was all Kobras. With some very tight defence and ball-control offence, the Kobras were able to get the win.

Aaron Wipf scored the only major of the second half for the Kobras, making a strong run to get into the end zone. He also forced a safety late in the game to put an exclamation mark on the win for the Kobras.

The Mohawks did have a score in the second half, a kick return, to make things interesting, but they just couldn’t get any closer.

Head Coach Tavis Lehman said that the guys played well and knew early that it was their game to win or lose.

“After getting the first points with a field goal and then the touchdown, we felt it was our game,” he said.

Kevin Pinno scored 12 points kicking; Ryan Olivier and Aaron Wipf each scored majors, with Wipf also getting credit for the late safety.

It was a chilly day in Kindersley Saturday, sitting about-12 C but the fans came out in droves to watch the Kobras defeat the Humboldt Mohawks in the provincial semifinals.

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The offensive line, made up of Grade 10 players, led by centre Daniel Anderson was unbelievable in the game, opening up gaping holes for the running backs and protecting the quarterback.

Lehman also mentioned the tight ends, who played a solid game, and said that the plays were executed well, especially the end-around plays.

“Humboldt kept throwing a four-man line against us and our guys were able to handle them,” said Lehman.

The defence came up huge for the team with the squad smothering many attempts by Humboldt to gain too many yards.

As a whole, the defence played well.

“Defensively we played well,” said Lehman. “We knew their No. 16 was a powerful runner and it was great to see our team come together to stop him for the most part.”

Kyle Edmunds was huge on defence. He had three consecutive sacks on the Humboldt quarterback when they were on the KCS 30-yard line with under two minutes left in the game.

Also solid on defence was Wipf, who forced several quarterback rushes, had one or two sacks and played solid.

Tiernan Elliott also played a solid game.

“I have watched him since Grade 8 and now he is in Grade 11,” said Lehman. “I think he did very well. He stood out to me. I just love seeing a player’s development.”

The teams is now busily preparing for the finals.

“We will be watching some film on Lumsden and we will be working in practice making sure that we are executing our plays well,” said Lehman. “To do something that the school hasn’t done in so many years is pretty momentous.”

Notes

• In 1970, the last time the Kobras were in the provincial final, they hosted the Wynyard Golden Bears and lost 26-12. They were losing 13-0 at the half, but came back to make the score 13-6 on a touchdown by Joey Hertz. Dave Lewis scored the last touchdown of the game for Kindersley to make the final 26-12.

• Michelle Allin is organizing a fan bus for Saturday’s game that starts at 1 p.m. There needs to be a guarantee of 56 fans in order to take the bus. The cost per person will be $45. Money must be paid to Michelle by Thursday at noon. Bus will be leaving KCS at 8 a.m.

• Lumsden defeated Martensville and Melfort to reach the finals.

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