Raymond awesome in first game of alberta high school season


High school football fans — those outside of Raymond, at least — already know these names and are probably none too pleased to see them lead Raymond to a 48-7 win over Catholic Central in the opening game of the Southern Alberta High School Football League Saturday night at the U of L Stadium.

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Provincial foes are likely to be just as upset as the Raymond juggernaut, with its two consecutive provincial titles and three of the past five, continues to roll.

Jimmy Ralph played just one half before sitting out with a knee bruise but he still accounted for over 100 yards of offence, throwing, receiving, running and returning. Even a two-point convert offered a chance for Ralph to shimmy his way into the highlight reel.

Jimmy’s cousin Connor Ralph, who has beefed up considerably from last season, ran through dozens of would-be tacklers for 100-plus yards rushing, although he missed two extra point attempts with a graceless Lou Groza-style effort.

Sieben, despite a hand taped up like a club and a sore shoulder for the game’s final third, was a brick wall on defence and will catch the eyes of university scouts with his efforts. He tackled everything in his path to mark a dominant defensive display against a Catholic Central offence which boasts several breakout players.

Baker has established himself as the team’s signal caller and showed an ability to run Raymond’s complex offence from behind centre.

Prince clutched passes and ran his way past a CCH defence which will be fighting for second place in the SAHSFL A Division.

Oh, and all but Baker, who is in Grade 11, have two provincial titles to go with a pair of league crowns.

“That’s one of the keys when you’ve got a lot of returning veterans, and they’ve won two provincial titles,” said Comets’ head coach Dustin Ralph. “They have a responsibility now that’s greater than what they played with last year.

“They’ve got to be the leaders on the team. They’ve got to learn to be prepared for every game, whether its a provincial championship or an exhibition game. They have to know that you put the work in no matter what.”

Guarding against complacency is clearly a focus for Ralph and his fellow coaches but he said he feels this group can be special and continue the streak of provincial titles.

“That’s the goal. To win every game and I think it’s a good group of kids for staying focused and not getting too full of themselves, but we’ll see as the season goes.”

Catholic Central head coach Mike Nightingale said playing Raymond is a whole different level than the rest of the league and, despite a 41-point loss, he loves the challenge.

“We’re trying to build a championship team here and when you look at what Dustin and Raymond have been able to do, that’s a championship team,” said Nightingale, a Vanier Cup winner with the University of Calgary Dinos.

“So, while you’re never satisfied with a loss, when I look at how my guys played out there tonight, I think they did a lot of things they can be proud of.

“Raymond is a very difficult, complex offence to gameplan for.”
Nightingale said his team was prepared and his players were in the right spot, they just lost some one-on-one battles.

“That’s going to happen against kids like Jimmy Ralph once in awhile, right?” he said. “I mean, we’ve got to work on our tackling, because they killed us with that tonight but as far as effort and being where we told them to be, they did a great job for us.”

It was CCH quarterback Mark Boychuk who gave CCH a spark in the waning moments with a cross-field scamper for a big gain which led to a touchdown. Those plays are something Nightingale expects to see from the diminutive pivot.

“He’s going to have to make plays with his arm and with his feet,” he said. “He’s pretty electrifying. I’m hoping he’ll be able to break those off a few times a game.”
“They’re going to be good,” said Ralph of the Cougars. “

“Tonight was a good example of how we’ve got to be prepared because you saw what their quarterback can do when you miss a tackle.”

But as the season begins and the Comets look to a provincial three-peat, there aren’t likely many who can stop the Comets’ big-name players if they perform like they did Saturday night.

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