Cobras slither past Myers Rebels

It was an aerial assault by the Claresholm Willow Creek Cobras which applied the venom to the W.R. Myers Rebels football team in a 27-7 loss last week on the road.

“They are a really big, solid team so they love to pound the ball up the middle,” said Adam Hughes, head coach of the W.R. Myers Rebels, adding his team was more than able to push back on the ground despite being outsized. “But we were able to shut them down, they probably gained negative rushing yards. Their coach said when he saw us walking off the bus, he thought we were a small, skinny team, but we were able to punch them right back in the mouth.”

Rather, it was three long passes that were the Rebels undoing with how the Cobras were able to sink their fangs into the Rebels which is understandable given how much pressure the Rebels scheme puts on its secondary.

“Besides that, they did not move the ball on us at all. Unfortunately, they still had those three passes,” said Hughes. “We had some mistakes on the back end, but it happens. The way we play our defence, we commit so much to the run that we ask a lot out of our cornerbacks and safeties. It’s tough to get mad at them when they played a pretty solid game for us overall.”

On offence, Hughes added the Rebels were able to move the ball with some regularity, but could not sustain their drives with W.R. Myers’ lone major coming from Adrian Tams.

“We moved the ball somewhat, but with their size, they did the same thing we did on defence, they clogged things up. We had some drives, but they ended up in interceptions or stalling so we didn’t get points out of them,” said Hughes. “Adrian Tams on offence and defence did fantastic, keeping us in the game with Dylan Tams playing fantastic on defence as well.”

Also coming to the forefront has been the Rebels depth with six players still out of the roster due to injury for the game against the Cobras.

“We’re still pretty thin, but the guys we are asking to step up are really stepping up. I couldn’t be more proud of them. For the tough injury situation we are in, we are doing just fine,” said Hughes.

W.R. Myers Rebels football team hits the road again this Thursday for a game against Pincher Creek before finishing up its regular season against Kate Andrews the following Friday on the road in Lethbridge.

“We’re looking forward to it and we’re hoping to finish off the season strong,” said Hughes.