The provincial playoffs are in sight for Okotoks’ high school football squads.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights and Foothills Falcons will hit the road this weekend with zone qualifiers into the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association Provincial playoffs on deck.
Foothills will be in Cochrane to clash with the Cobras, a playoff foe new to the scene.
“They’ve always been a great football team,” said Falcons head coach Nathan St. Dennis. “Them moving from Tier III to Tier I is interesting, we haven’t had to think about them and now we do.
“We’re excited to play a good team, excited to see what we can do and it’s just a matter of showing up.”
Cochrane, a perennial Tier III powerhouse, opted up to the Tier I ranks this season.
The zone qualifier will be a 7 p.m. kickoff in Cochrane on Nov. 4.
“We have great athletes, we’re coached really well,” St. Dennis said. “So it’s just us putting in the work this week, preparing and we’ve already started that process.”
Foothills lowered the curtain on its regular season against a loaded Raymond Comets squad on Oct. 28 at Falcons field with the visitors earning a 51-7 victory.
“They’re probably one of the best football teams we’ve played against, they’ve got great athletes,” St. Dennis said. “Really, a lot of it is a measuring stick and looking at what we need to build towards which is good for our kids to see firsthand.
“That’s a big deal for us, being productive and building from it.”
Foothills bounced back after halftime and found their way into the end-zone after quarterback Emerson Liepert feathered a perfect spiral to receiver Caleb Baker with Falcon Noah Blackburn adding a late interception in the red-zone in the fourth quarter.
“It was a tough start with those turnovers,” the coach added. “Offence can’t get the ball, you give up all of those points early and then we showed up, it was great to see us show up physically.
“That second half was a good response.”
For the Knights, the road back to the provincial playoffs goes through Airdrie.
The No. 1 ranked HTA and George McDougall Mustangs will lock horns next weekend in the Tier II zone qualifier.
“George Mac, we’ve kept our eye on all year,” said Knights head coach Matt Hassett. “They’ve been a really good football team, they’ve had really close games with some really good schools and also knocked off Cochrane for the first time in a long time.
“Their program is really riding high.”
The teams last met in the 2021 playoffs with HTA earning a 39-0 result in the Tier II quarterfinals.
The Knights are expecting a tougher opponent this go around with the Mustangs capping off a strong regular season by defeating its rival Cochrane 35-20 to claim the Rocky View title for the first time since 2014 last Friday.
“We know each other really well,” Hassett said. “And it looks like it will be a really good matchup.
“They can pass, they can throw and their special teams are really solid.”
HTA had a bye week and has focused on the fundamentals at practice sessions in preparation for its postseason run.
“The last couple weeks it’s been tackling,” the coach added. “We have to tackle better from the last couple of games. They’ve got some really great athletes like Paul Condon that are going to make you look stupid if you don’t tackle well.”
The Knights wrapped up the slate of games for their JV team this week with a 35-10 win over Strathmore, concluding their second full game along with five scrimmages.
The Mustangs are hosting the Nov. 5 match with HTA which will be either on the grass field at Airdrie’s Genesis Centre or on a turf field.
