ST. PAUL – The St. Paul Lions opened their high school football season with an 18-1 win against the Cold Lake Royals on Friday night.
The Lions held a slim 6-1 lead at halftime, but finished off the game 18-1 during the second half on Sept. 13.
After the game, Steven Johnson, offensive line coach for the Lions, said there are areas of improvements the team can work on.
"We need to step up, especially because of the league we're in," he said. "We're now in 3A tier, so all the schools are going to be bigger than we are."
That means cleaning up errors and improving timing. "We had some bad snaps," like some confusion on the back field, he explained.
"We have to get better every time. Guys have to know their assignments and they can't have brain farts in the middle of the game," which involves understanding the game plan, said the coach - doing otherwise would lead to confusion for the whole team.
Johnson said football is the ultimate team sport. There are 12 players on a team doing different things at the same time for a single purpose. So, it is critical for everyone to do their job.
"But it's not easy," he recognizes. Even if players understand what they are supposed to do, it is also about the execution of a plan, which could be challenging to do in the heat of the moment. That's why, "We'll work on execution over and over again until it's right . . . and hopefully we'll get it sorted out."
Overall, Johnson commended the Lions for a job well done. Both the offensive and defensive lines performed well, scoring and being able to regain possession of the ball multiple times.
"Cold Lake is a good team. They're well-coached and they know what they're doing. They got some good athletes over there and they pushed us. [And] that is good," said Johnson, adding, challenges are required to improve.
The Lions will now be heading to Bonnyville on Sept. 21 to play against the Voyageurs.