Perfect practice has extended the Big Rock Bengals unblemished start to the season.
The Bengals improved to 3-0 for the first time in team history after beating the Calgary Stampeders 21-7 Thursday night at Shouldice Park in a battle of Calgary and Area Midget Football Association division foes.
“We had spent a lot of time with the boys in practice and we did a good film session to get them to see what they were up against,” said Bengals head coach Bruce Marlow. “The boys really rallied around what the plan was and they came out an executed pretty much exactly what was planned.”
Things continued to go according to plan for the Bengals stout defence who for the third week in a row allowed one touchdown or less.
Through three weeks, the halfway mark of the abbreviated midget season, the Bengals are second in the 12-team league with just 21 point against.
Tanner Francis, who switched from offensive to defensive line, as well as two-way linemen Jacob Kamajian, Aden Ellis and defensive backs Chayton Nidd and Seth Nelson were key cogs on the defensive unit.
“Our defence keeps coming up strong every week,” the coach added. “Our defensive line is led by a couple guys. Jacob Kamajian is a two-way player and he made a substantial difference going both ways.”
Runningback Payton Burbank paced the offence with a pair of touchdown runs while quarterback Robbie Hoffman hooked up through the air with the sure-handed Julian Jenkins for a 30-yard connection to the end zone.
It was Big Rock’s most complete performance on offence through three weeks of action.
“We had a plan on how we were going to go at this game because the Stampeders have a great defence,” Marlow said. “The kids executed very well, the leadership of Robbie Hoffman and Payton Burbank was phenomenal. Our routes were getting sharper, we added a couple new plays and those new plays worked like a darn.”
The Bengals sit tied for first with the Wildcats in the Parkinson Division.
Big Rock enjoys its bye week next before taking on the winless Airdrie Raiders, the bottom seed in the Boulton Division, on April 28 at 8:30 p.m. at Shouldice Park.
“The Raiders haven’t won this year, but they have played the top three teams in their division,” the coach said.
Prior to that Big Rock is slated to practice in Claresholm, where three of its players are from and the team is hoping to build a further base in future years, on April 25.
For more information on the team log on to bigrockbengals.com
