Jonas Emilsson
www.KramMag.com

Based on the regular season battles between the William Aberhart Trojans and the Dr. E.P. Scarlett Lancers, attempting to predict the outcome of their duel in final of the senior boys’ Div III final would have required a crystal ball.

Their first early-season matchup in the season ended with in a narrow 17-14 victory for the Lancers.

Their second meeting later in the season ended in a 38-0 drubbing in favour of the Trojans.

The rubber match, played on the biggest stage of the season during the championship final, saw the Trojans come away with a 14-8 victory.

Quarterback Eric Ranson ran for a touchdown and threw for another to wide reciver Josh Gray to take care of the scoring the Trojans.

Running back Alex Gourlay scored the Lancers’ only touchdown and was force one the ground every time the ball was in his hands.

Both teams took plenty of time to find their game legs in the early going, resulting in the majority of the plays taking place in the middle area of the field.

But as the game progressed, both teams started to find their offensive groove.

Three minutes into the second quarter the Trojans finally found a way to get deep into the Lancers’ end of the field thanks to a terrific 35-yard run by Brendan Kearl, which ended on the 1-yard line.

On the next play Ranson played the keeper to perfection to give the Trojans a 7-0 lead, which held up until halftime.

The Trojans added to their lead at the 9:41 mark of the third quarter when Ranson connected with Gray on a 55-yard catch and run to give the Trojans a two touchdown lead.

Based on the struggles of the Lancers’ offense, it was difficult to imagine them being able to mount a late-game comeback.

But they gave their supporters some hope on their next possession when Gourlay found the end zone on a four-yard run, setting the game up for an exciting finish.

On their next offensive possession, with just over five minutes to play in the game, the Lancers seemed to be gearing up for another push towards the end zone.

“My heart rate was just about flatlining because my offense stopped moving the ball, but my defense stepped up,” said Trojans’ head coach Brian Pederson.

But an unfortunate bounce off a receiver’s helmet resulted in an interception at midfield.

The Lancers’ defense fought hard to get their offense the ball one more time with just under two minutes to play, but the Trojans’ defense refused to let the city title get away from their team, forcing the Lancers into turnover on downs with no time left on the clock.

“My heart is obviously jumping a lot because it was a really close game, and Scarlett played one heck of a game and they battled us right to the end,” said Pederson. “But I’m really proud of out team.”

“We set a goal to make it to this game and hoped to come out on top.”

Action photos from this game are available HERE.