The Okotoks Raiders went looking for some home-cooking at the recent Rocky Mountain Junior A Lacrosse League entry draft.
The Raiders found some high-quality Alberta beef that will stay with them for a while, not some fast-food selection.
The Raiders chose three players from the Okotoks Midget Mustangs at the February draft, Raymond Banister, goalie Dylan Bachmyer and Carson McCormick from High River. The Calgary Mountaineers selected two Mustangs, Colin Koskie and Dylan Gibson.
Banister was selected eighth overall in the draft.
“Raymond played a game for us last year in the playoffs,” Raiders …

Fresh off their league title the Foothills Falcons are charging into the South Central 4A Senior boys basketball zones.
The Falcons open their best-of-three zone final against the Bert Church Chargers Wednesday in Airdrie.
“In terms of size, their team is similar to ours, so the two teams match up very well,” Falcons head coach Amron Gwilliam said. “They have two big guys just like we have in Lee Campbell and Branden (Heslip). In terms of the roster we match up very good. They are a very good team and we will …

A Foothills Falcon had no problem reading the fine print on the school’s fourth consecutive Foothills Athletic Council Senior high school boys championship thanks to a new pair of contacts.
Foothills Falcon Lee Campbell scored a team-high 26 points in the Falcons’ 73-43 victory over the surprising Notre Dame Collegiate Timberwolves Saturday in the final in High River.

“This is just the second time I have played with contacts and now I can see the basket so much better,” Campbell said.
Being six-foot-seven and having the shooting touch of a point guard …

When the Oilfields Drillers began using visualization techniques they likely didn’t envision themselves winning a Foothills Athletic Council junior varsity girls basketball championship banner by the end of the season.
It’s no longer a vision. It’s a reality.

The Drillers won their first basketball banner in almost a decade when they downed the Holy Trinity Academy Knights 43-42 in a nail-biter of a final Saturday at Highwood High School in High River.
“The girls worked really hard for this and we won as a team,” said Drillers head coach Bruce Orr.
The …

There’s nothing like losing the first game of the Alberta Junior Hockey League (AJHL) playoffs to clear the cobwebs from young men’s minds.
The Okotoks Oilers lost their opening game of the AJHL playoffs when they dropped a 5-4 decision to the Canmore Eagles Sunday at the Centennial Arena in Okotoks. However, they rebounded to tie the best-of-seven series at 1-1 when they beat the Eagles 4-2 Monday in Okotoks.

The Oilers received a bye in the opening round of the AJHL for winning the South Division. Sunday’s 5-4 loss was …

The Okotoks Junior High School cheerleading squad may not have taken a medal home from provincial championships but they can hold their heads high.
The 24-man squad only had six returning girls from last year’s squad and they faced stiff competition from Edmonton-area schools, some of which line the walls of their gymnasiums with title banners. Stephanie Mathieson, head coach of the OJHS Ocelots cheer team, said she is proud of how they did despite placing sixth out of six teams.
“When you start new every year it takes two or three …

All signs point towards Okotoks hosting the Minto Cup in the fall of 2011.
All that remains is for the Canadian Lacrosse Association (CLA), the sport’s national governing body, to rubber stamp the bid and the Okotoks Junior A Raiders will play host to the prestigious national junior lacrosse championship.
David Fehr, president and owner of the Raiders, said it’s just a matter of time until the organization’s bid is approved.
“If I were a betting guy, on something like this I would say our chances are very good,” said Fehr.
According to Fehr, …

In reality nothing other than pride was on the line.
Down three games to one against Medicine Hat, the Okotoks Bisons were guaranteed a berth in the nest round of the playoffs, win or lose. Except the Bisons had lost the south division title two years in a row, wounding their pride each time.
So they made a statement in a decisive, 7-1, game five victory on home ice, March 5, and steamrolled all the way to a 4-1, game seven win, culminating in a south division title.
“We’ve lost out the last …

An Okotoks school will be playing in the Foothills Athletic Council (FAC) Senior boys basketball final this weekend.
Now it’s up to the Holy Trinity Academy (HTA) Knights and the Foothills Composite Falcons to decide on March 5 which of those Okotoks schools will vie for the championship.
The Knights earned a trip to the semi-finals after beating the Oilfields Drillers 87-55 March 3 at HTA in the FAC quarterfinal.
“I thought we played our most complete game of the season,” Knights coach Sam Aiello said. “We played a full 40 minutes which …

Men’s rugby looks to be making a return to the fields of Okotoks this spring.
The Foothills Lions, once a perennial contender in the Calgary Rugby Union, could be reuniting in the coming weeks and playing their first game in May.
Darcy Gallant played rugby for 15 years and he decided it was time to rejuvenate an adult rugby program in the foothills to save players and fans the long drive north into Calgary.
Gallant said he believes the area will embrace rugby once again, just as people have with other sports teams …