(rdnewsNOW/Troy Gillard)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!

Playoff time for high school football

Oct 24, 2019 | 7:00 PM

The Friday night lights are calling for local high school football teams as city and rural league playoffs are set to kick-off.

It’s a double-header scheduled for Setters Place at Great Chief Park on Friday, starting with the number two-ranked Hunting Hills Lightning taking on the third-seeded Notre Dame Cougars at 5 p.m.

Lightning head coach Kyle Sedgwick says his team has learned some valuable lessons since beating Notre Dame 17-12 in week two, particularly the need to execute in all three phases of the game.

“We’ve got some ground to make up, and whatever feeling of invincibility some of our players might have had should definitely be out the window because we’re coming off a conference loss (to Lindsay Thurber) and fairly close games. We can’t have an entitled attitude because we haven’t really done anything this year,” he says.

“It’s all about playing your best football at this time of year. Notre Dame beat Lacombe in their last conference game and looked really sharp. Regardless of the records — they were 1-2 and we were 2-1 — it’s just about who wins Friday.”

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Whichever team wins Friday could also qualify for provincials as Hunting Hills, Notre Dame and Lacombe all play in Tier 2. Thus, if Lindsay Thurber (Tier 1) beats Lacombe in the other city semi, the Lightning/Cougars winner not only advances to the city final next week, but also the provincial championship tournament.

The late game will feature the aforementioned Lacombe Rams and Lindsay Thurber Raiders kicking off at 8 p.m. The Raiders defeated Lacombe 9-7 in a week four matchup on Sept. 27.

“It’s a running league, and Lacombe likes to throw it around the field, so we barely escaped with our lives last time, and we’re expecting more of the same,” says Raiders coach Devon Hand.

“I hate to go full [Bill] Belichik, but we’re doing this one week at a time, focusing on who’s in frot of us, and getting a little better every day. Hopefully that translates into a win.”

Hand says the buy-in from his senior players also contributed to the team’s unbeaten record against city teams this year.

“We can compete with the higher end teams in our division. We have a close group and that’s translated into a little more success. I’ve been part of teams that had no business being in games, but because they believed in each other, they could remain competitive.”

Lindsay Thurber has already qualified for provincials by virtue of being the only city team in Tier 1.

On the rural side, the number one H.J Cody Lakers will go toe-to-toe with Camrose at 3 p.m. Friday on their home turf.

Lakers head coach Jeremy Braitenback says a lot of the credit for his team’s 6-0 season can be attributed to the town’s minor football program that produced many of his.

“They’ve had strong coaching, and strong commitment from their organizations. We had a great turnout this season and the kids are really fired up and wanted to do as well as they could this year,” he explains.

“If the regular season was any indication, it’ll probably be us and Stettler in the final, which would be a repeat of last year. That’s a really good rivalry and healthy for our league, but I’m not looking past Camrose by any means because on any given night, any team can win.”

Elsewhere, the other rural semi features Wetaskiwin and Stettler, while the consolation games pits Drayton Valley against Rocky Mountain House, the winner of which will play Ponoka for 5th place next week.

Rimbey also faces Breton in 6-man playoff action.