The Holy Rosary High School Raiders broke a six-year losing streak by winning the ASAA Tier III Provincial Championship last Friday night in Calgary when they shutout the Strathmore Spartans 44-0. Supplied Photo
The Holy Rosary Raiders football team made history last week after winning the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association (ASAA) Tier III Provincial Championship, also known as the Alberta Bowl.
4After beating the Sturgeon Spirits 42-7 in the semi-finals, the Raiders travelled to Calgary last Friday to take on the Strathmore Spartans, a fairly unknown team to the Raiders. But, despite many unknowns, the Raiders shut out the Spartans 44-0.
For the Raiders, this provincial title was almost a decade in the making, not to mention the fact the Raiders have lost to the Cochrane Cobras in the finals for the past six years.Â
The last time the Raiders won the Alberta Bowl was in 2014 when they played in Tier IIII before moving up to Tier III.Â
From 2015 to 2021, with no season in 2020, Cochrane successfully beat the Raiders each time they met in the finals.Â
This was the team’s 10th trip to the Alberta Bowl since 2008, and they’ve gone every year since 2013. The Raiders also set an Alberta Bowl record for most appearances in the bowl.
“We controlled the game right from the very start,” said head coach Vince Orieux of Friday’s game. “We had a bit of trouble on our first offensive series, but our defence went in there and had a good stop. Our offence kind of took over and we scored on our second drive.”
The win was also bittersweet for the group of Grade 12 students who will be graduating in the spring.
“This particular group of Grade 12s, when they were in Grade 7 they won Peewee provincials, when they were in Grade 9 they won the Bantam provincials, and now in Grade 12 they’re able to finish by winning a provincial championship,” said Orieux.
“They’ve been playing together for a while. They know each other and there’s a real strong history of championship football on that core group.”
One of those Grade 12 students is quarterback Matthew Cavanagh, who couldn’t think of a better way to end his high school football career.
“It was a big one,” he said. “It was really important to finally end our six-year losing streak, and to get it done in a 44-0 shutout feels amazing. We came out hungry and wanted to win that game. Every single guy on that team came out firing and focused, and we did anything we possibly could do, right.”
Looking back on his high school football career, Cavanagh was quick to talk about the Raiders’ coaching staff.
“I’d argue we’ve got one of the best coaching staff in the province,” he said. “They know how to build a team, they know how to make a man. They build us up and we execute for them.”
Wide receiver and cornerback Tyler Gerwing, who is also one of the Raiders four captains, was also ecstatic with the win.
“It was the biggest win we could have gotten and it feels really good,” he said.
