DrumhellerMail.com Sports

Four senior athletes bring home eight medals from national games

Pat Kolafa | © DrumhellerMail.com — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:55:05 +0000

Drumheller athletes shined once again on the national stage this summer as four senior athletes competed in the 2010 Canada 55-Plus Games.

    This year’s events were in Brockville, Ontario from August 23-28.
    Bob Moffatt and Billie Wood both competed in darts. Billie’s sister Donna Campbell competed in horseshoes and Ian Daniels competed in 8-Ball.
    Moffatt said all the provinces were represented at the games with the exception of Newfoundland and Nunavut. This was the first year that Quebec and British Columbia entered. There were about 1,500 competitors registered to compete in 21 different events.
    Moffatt said as always there were strong teams from Alberta, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
    The four competitors from Drumheller were able to come home with eight medals.
    Bob Moffatt won gold in single men’s darts, gold in doubles and bronze in mixed doubles. Wood won gold in singles, silver in lady’s doubles and bronze, teamed with Moffatt, in mixed doubles. Campbell won silver in horseshoes and Daniels won bronze in 8-Ball.
    Moffatt said he had some tough competition in the singles matches, and he credits his mentor Jim Owens for teaching him the strategy of the game.
    This was Moffatt’s third trip to the national games. He competed in Summerside PEI in 2002 and Portage la Prairie, Manitoba in 2006. Wood participated in the Summerside games and also in Whitehorse, Yukon in 2004.
    These were the first national games for Daniels and Campbell.

Drumheller Dragons lose to Olds in first exhibition game

Kyle Smylie | © DrumhellerMail.com — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:29:48 +0000

Monday marked the beginning of the 2010/2011 season for the Drumheller Dragons, and even though the team took a loss against the Olds Grizzlys, the game was a valuable demonstration of what the new Dragons could do.

    The Dragons hosted a 5-4 loss against the Grizzlys Monday evening, with Olds stealing the lead from Drumheller late in the third.
    “The score was not what we wanted, but we definitely didn’t lack effort and the game went great,” said head coach Dan Price.
    Price said the game, the first exhibition game for the team this year, is a great chance to evaluate the younger players on the team.
    “We had contacted Olds and we both agreed we needed to look at our young players,” Price said.
    “We learned about each guy, what condition they’re in and if they could handle the pace of an AJHL game.”
    The Olds Grizzlys opened up scoring under a minute in a game, and it took almost the entire first period for Dragon Logan Maddin to reply for Drumheller’s first point of the game.
    Drumheller took lead in the second with a response to Olds’ equalizer and then one more goal in the period by Curtis Matkin, taking the Dragons into the third with a one point lead.
    Olds quickly notched three points against the Dragons in the third, making the game 5-3 before Drumheller’s own Josh Kluck scored to have the final score sit at 5-4.
    Monday’s game was a clean one, with little time spent in the sin bin of both teams.
    The Dragons just came off their pre-season training camp Sunday which culminated in the second annual Miner’s Cup, an intra-squad game between Teams Black and Orange.
    Team Black got the win this year after being beaten by Orange last year.
    Dan Price said he loved how the training week went for the team, and is excited to bring the Dragons into the regular season.
    The Dragons will be taking on the Kodiaks in Camrose on Friday, September 3, and then will host them at the Memorial Arena on Saturday, at 7:30 p.m.

Titans show resilience in San Diego tourney

Pat Kolafa | © DrumhellerMail.com — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 21:28:33 +0000

    The Drumheller Titans returned from San Diego Sunday night after playing in their first international tournament. Not only did they get a taste of American Football, they also came home with experience that will help them in the rest of the season and the rest of their lives.
    “They showed some sign of life and resilience, determination to win,” said one of the coaching staff Ryan Hatch upon returning home. “As a preseason game for us, it definitely showed that no matter what a team can send at us, our guys are able to dig down. Some teams can go down and out, but our guys were so resilient and ready to win.”
    The team headed south to play in the 8th Annual Kick Off Football Classic. They squared off against the Calipatria High School Hornets on Saturday afternoon. It was a big adjustment for the team. This was the first time they were playing in a “high school” stadium complete with artificial turf. They were also playing American rules, with four downs, 11 players, a smaller field, and the lines starting each play nose-to-nose.
    “For our line not having that yard distance between the offensive and defensive lines, made for a much quicker game for them,” said Hatch. “From the beginning of the game, there were a lot of adjustments we had to make and I think the boys had some nerves going in which is expected, this was a big deal for them.”
    The Titans came out a little shell-shocked and by the half, they were down by three touchdowns. In the second half, they began to chip at the American team.
    “From the end of the third quarter and throughout the fourth quarter our defence absolutely shut down their offence. They could not move the ball,” said Hatch.
    The turning point came when the Titans were able to hold off the Hornets at their two-yard line for a complete four downs.
    From deep inside their own end, they began a drive that lasted nine minutes, and even forced the other team to call a time out for a breather. Dalton Smith ran in for a touch down.
    “What an effort, these boys just dug deep,” said Hatch. “Something in the boys clicked. They knew they could do it and knew they weren’t outplayed. I think they were a little star struck at the beginning at how fast this team was.”
    “At the end of the third, and beginning of the fourth, there was a different tone. They were saying ‘we can do this.’”
    The trip wasn’t all football. The team was able to see some of the attractions including Sea World, Mission Beach, a San Diego Padres game and visited the USS Midway, the famous American aircraft carrier. This helped the team bond.
    “As much as football is a game, there are a lot of life lessons learned from it. You take boys from all different social groups and put them together and they have to work together as a team. They learn a lot about their differences, strengths and weaknesses. It is a neat dynamic,” said Hatch.
    There is little rest for the Titans as by Monday they were back on the field practicing and play an exhibition game this Friday in Lethbridge.

California school looks forward to Titans clash

Pat Kolafa | © DrumhellerMail.com — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 21:23:16 +0000

The Drumheller Senior Titans football team is in San Diego getting ready to play, and knows there will be some tough competition ahead of them.
In fact, the competition is eagerly waiting for them

The Titans are to play at the CIF-San Diego Section 8th annual Kick-Off Football Classic on Saturday, August 28.
    An article appeared last Saturday on the website of the Imperial Valley Press, a daily newspaper in El Centro California entitled “Calipatria to play in Kick-Off Classic” shows the competition isn’t just biding the time before the tournament. The Calipatria High School Hornets will be representing the Imperial Valley at the tournament and are pumped to play the Titans
    “We are excited to be able to go and play in the Kick-Off Classic this year, especially against a team from Canada,” Calipatria head coach David Shaw was quoted in the article. “We have been getting ready for this for a couple of weeks now and I’m anxious to see how they are going to react to playing American football.”
    The Titans left late Monday evening from the Titans field, and they too are wondering how they will fare playing American football. They will be adapting to the 11 man set up, playing on a smaller field and having four downs to advance the ball.
    It also sounds like the Hornets are not taking their foreign competition for granted.
“We are a much different team this year. We aren’t as big but we are faster and have more heart,” senior linebacker Eddie Fernandez said in the article. “We are excited to play against Canada because it should be good to see some tough competition to start the season.”
    There may also be some national pride on the line in the friendly competition.
“This is a great opportunity for us. We get to represent the U.S. and play Canada,” said Hornet sophomore Tanner Rollins with a laugh.

DORVA shines hosting first stop of SOAB Fall MX series

The Drumheller Off Road Vehicle Association (DORVA) proved it could host a race as good, or better than many communities last weekend.

    The Drumheller club hosted the first stop of the Southern Alberta (SOAB) Fall MX Series last weekend. Not only were Drumheller riders in the spotlight on the track, but so was the event in general. Race organizer Casey Christensen said the event went off without a hitch.
    “It was phenomenal,” Christensen told The Mail. “Everybody had nothing but positive reviews for the facility and the track conditions, and the layout we had. It was flawless.”
In all, there were 296 entries from the 4-6 year-olds on 50cc bikes, up to the 40-plus categories.
    “We had the capacity to double what we had,” he said.
    Racers were out on Saturday for practice and to learn the track, and then on Sunday, were geared up for racing. Despite the light rain on Sunday, Christensen said they had perfect conditions for racing.
    “Mother nature cooperated,” said Christensen. “We watered and groomed the track until about 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning. We were rained on a little through the night. We had nice cool, moist conditions for the most part on Sunday, but it didn’t rain enough to mess anything up.”
    He said a strong contingent of local riders took to the track including some familiar faces like Ben Fooks and Azraie Dumont, as well as a few riders racing for the first time.
    Christensen was proud of the hard work the club did to make the event a success, and racers and officials did take notice.
    “Some ADRA (Alberta Dirt Riders Association) officials said the Drumheller track just raised the bar for other tracks to keep up to,” said Chistensen. “We had nothing but positive reviews.”
    He chuckles adding this was the first event this season that actually finished on time. In fact, they ran ahead of schedule.
    The SOAB Fall Series is a cumulative point series with six races slated. The next SOAB race is in Calgary on August 28 and 29, and the series concludes September 26 in Medicine Hat.
    DORVA is slated to host two points races next season.