Playoff football kicks off Friday with a zone semifinal for the Knights.
Holy Trinity Academy, the top-ranked 4A team in the province, lines up against Airdrie’s W.H. Croxford Cavaliers on Nov. 1 at Cochrane High’s turf field as elimination football hits the gridiron this weekend.
“They’re a good football team,” said Knights head coach Matt Hassett. “They’ve got a pretty good defence and they’ve been a little up and down, but I thought they played George McDougall pretty tough the other day.
“I think it should be a good game.”
Croxford, ranked No. 8 at 4A, bested Bert Church 24-9 in the all-Airdrie matchup last week.
The Knights enter the zone playoffs coming off a 51-3 win on the road over the Strathmore Spartans on Oct. 25.
“We were able to get everybody in and get off to a good start,” Hassett said. “It was 35-0 at the end of the first quarter and we started changing up all of the starters and got everybody some time.”
The Knights, 7-1 on the season with all of their victories by significant margins, saw their undefeated streak halted the previous week by the 5A powerhouse Raymond Comets 47-25.
“The layoff after St. Francis ending up cancelling really hurt us against Raymond because weren’t in really tight games,” Hassett said. “And you get used that mentality when you’re in tight games and being able to pull things out.
“I tell the players all of the time, let’s just keep getting better. Raymond was a good test and the score was closer than it indicated. But if we play and execute like we can, we should be OK.”
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. for the HTA and Croxford clash on Friday, the second of a double-header that starts with the Cochrane Cobras and Canmore Wolverines doing battle. HTA will be playing the rest of its games away from Okotoks with a provincial mandate to have playoff games on turf fields.
The Foothills Falcons, who were defeated 43-17 by the No. 6 ranked L.C.I. Rams Friday in Lethbridge, finished the regular season with a 4-4 record.
