Pee Wee Mustangs face Raiders, prepare for McMahon rematch

Pee Wee Mustangs vs Raiders
Kelly Nelson photos

Coach Jeremy Nelson

As I sit here watching a CFL game, I am reminded of McMahon Stadium. McMahon stadium is where the PeeWee Mustangs have played the Claresholm Raiders for many years past, and will be doing so again this Thanksgiving Monday.

My first experience with Claresholm was under the lights at McMahon Stadium. It was a really cool experience for the parents that had never been there and an awesome experience for the kids whom had never played under the lights before.

Well, this past Thursday was the first time we played the Raiders in a league game outside of the big stadium. The start time for the game was at 6:30pm at the WCCHS field, which if you don’t know, has lights. When we arrived at the field I looked up to see the lights warming up. I walked over and chatted with the Raiders' coach. We exchanged some small talk, then onto game talk. We decided to start at the set time we had arranged earlier in the week, they have lights you know, so we don’t have to worry about running out of daylight.

Mustangs vs Raiders (Kelly Nelson photo)

I got our boys over to the far side of the field so they could concentrate on the game and not their really supportive parents, who we really appreciate. We got the kids warmed up with a little pep talk, a little run, and then on to their stretches. It was getting near to that magic time. So I headed over to the Raiders to get things sorted out, I brought with me my Center and my QB for the coin toss. 

Mustangs vs Raiders (Kelly Nelson photo)

We won the coin toss and my boys decided to take possession of the ball for the first play. We got our kids lined up, checked to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. All good. Lets play football, and we did. We were very successful with our plays. The runs up the middle worked, the sweeps worked. the pass plays sort of worked. We found the end zone not once, not twice, but three times. That’s right, three times. Before the game I told my kids that if we made the end zone twice I would be happy. That was my goal from the beginning of the week. 

Mustangs vs Raiders (Kelly Nelson photo)

Unfortunately there were some penalties called against us, I really can’t say who was the one at fault but I can tell you we will be working on it for weeks to come. After all, we need to make sure this machine is in perfect running condition. In my previous reviews I talked about how our defence was slow to come to the plate with their tasks, but not this game. They came to the plate right from the first play to the last play, only allowing the Raiders to find the end zone twice. 

All of this greatness happened under the lights, which made it even better. At the end of the game and after cheers and handshakes were done, I asked the kids, "Well guys, how did you like tonight’s game?". The answer I got back the most was " the lights".  One kid even said "It’s like the movies, under these lights". Pretty cool to have the first win of the season and it being under the lights. I would like to thank Claresholm for hosting us on such a great field to play on. On that Thursday night the Mustangs PeeWees played a game that they will not forget for some time.

Mustangs vs Raiders (Kelly Nelson photo)

I forgot to mention that we sort of played three games this week. The first game we played was against a little bigger-sized team. That game was really one sided, with us being on defence the whole time. Obviously we lost, but we all knew it was going to be that way. Our second game was against that same bigger team. This time we were on offence the whole time, and to nobody’s surprise we didn’t get any touchdowns. What we gained from this other team was experience! Experience that I feel made us successful in Claresholm. A big thank you to Coach Chris and his herd of Bantam Mustangs.

Mustangs vs Raiders (Kelly Nelson photo)

So on and up for next week. We need to work on some tackling and hand placement, for lack of better terms. We need to work on some back-field action, as well as the everyday stuff that football players need to know like the back of their hands.

Once again I would like to openly invite you to come to our next game, which is in Coaldale next Thursday. If you can't make that one maybe you can make the journey to McMahon Stadium on Thanksgiving Monday.

Till next time,
Coach Jeremy