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November 16, 2008

VICTORY!!!

The RAMS traveled south to Lethbridge for their date in the Tier one Provincial Final with the perennially tough Raymond Jr. Comets. The game was played on November 15th at Enmax Field before noisy fans and a noisier wind with gusts up to 65 kmh. The team did not disappoint the 100 or so fans from Sherwood Park who traveled a great distance, some getting up as early as 3 AM Saturday morning to get to the game on time and finished the season at a perfect 15-0 with a convincing 37-7 win.

This game was really about a team effort led by the RAMS defense who once again showed why they are the best in the league.

It has been said many times that "Defense wins championships" and the RAMS defense was tested right from the opening kick off when the RAMS defense made a great goal line stand with Curtis Chung separating a Raymond QB Brad Baker pass from his intended receiver in the end zone. This was the first of of two opportunities that the defense took away from Raymond to score when the Comets had the strong wind at their backs in the first quarter.

"That first defensive stand was huge" said Defensive Backs coach Darrin Annibale. "Our DBacks really came to play today with great coverage all game" added the coach. The DBacks capped off a great game with an Aaron Tripodi interception in the fourth quarter.

But the DBacks were not alone in the category of outstanding plays. "That is the best defensive line performance we have seen this year" said their position coach Tony Tripodi."Austin Heck, Rio Stolk, Troy Weissbach, Jeremy Balyk and Alex Perry picked today to have their best game- and we are glad they did!" bubbled their position coach."They made play after play today giving the Raymond quarterback fits all day."

Also equal to the task were the linebackers led by the two outside linebackers Thomas Chubey and Alex Mueller and inside backer Jordan Blonar who put continuous heat on the Raymond QB.

The offence was not to be outdone today either, led by the spectacular athleticism of QB Reese Paterson. Paterson broke the game open in the second quarter with a jaw dropping 80 run off a broken play where he eluded at least four determined Raymond defenders as he took the ball to the house. "That was as spectacular a play as you see in football anytime" said his coach Bruce Cunningham. Adding to the successful day were the performances of the Three Amigos (Brandon Stewart, Jordan Samoil and Derek Koss) who chipped in for close to 300 yards of rushing, each running with great authority during the game. "Between our Oline and running backs executing their assignments, working as a unit and making plays when it counted, we could not have been happier with the way they played" said  Offensive Coach Curt Martin.

" To score 37 points against this team is proof positive that the changes that we made this year to our offensive schemes made a real difference" pointed out head coach Jim Skitsko. "While we are used to our consistent punishing defense and Coach Johnson's defensive preparation, we wanted to make changes to our offense this year. I have to give huge kudos to our offensive coaches for working as a team in getting the job done."

For an amazing video tribute prepared by Steven Tripodi, please visit the "YouTube" site at

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TaUa0HXOU0   Thanks for a great season!!

Go RAMS!!

 

GO RAMS!!