By Robb Fenton
The Lloydminster Vandals refuse to get cocky, but it’s hard not to when they blowout the defending champs.
The Vandals were in Edmonton this past weekend and walked away with a 63-13 win over the Edmonton Stallions, improving their record to 5-1 heading into the final week of the season.
“It was a huge win. We took the opening kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown and pretty much played our first 60-minute game of the year,” Vandals president and wide receiver Glen Dembicki said.
While the Stallions are a different team than the one that upset the Vandals and won the AFL title last year, they are still a tough team to beat and the win was a big one for the Vandals’ confidence.
“We knew we had a very good chance of beating them, but they’re not as strong a team as they have been in the past,” Dembicki said.
“They’re still the defending champ and any time you can beat a team by 50 points and they’re the defending champs it feels real good.”
The game started off perfectly for the Vandals returning the opening kick for a touchdown and they never looked back after that.
The offence was dominant all game, scoring at will.
“The offence played really well, they were consistent the whole game. We scored a few touchdowns pretty much every quarter, scored on almost every drive, so the offence played real well and everyone got some touches,” Dembicki explained.
With the expansion Sherwood Park Renegades coming to Lloyd Saturday, the Vandals will look to finish off the season on a high note.
“We’re not going to get over-confident or take them lightly. We know we can win this football game, but we’re not a cocky football club. We’re not going to sit all of our starters, we have a bye week after this game, so our starters are going to play 80 per cent of the game,” Dembicki said, adding it’s important to keep everyone sharp. “We’ll just kind of stick to the same routine that has got us this far.”
The biggest thing about the game against the Renegades is working in new kick returners who will have to step up when Jess Valleau leaves to head back to University in Edmonton.
“We’re losing Jess Valleau to U of A after this game, so we’ve got a couple kick returners we want to get some touches. Other than that we’ve been readying ourselves all year for the playoffs,” Dembicki said.
Regardless of who they play or who is in the lineup, Dembicki and the rest of the team are happy with where they sit.
“We’re where we want to be right now,” he said.
The Vandals host the Renegades  Saturday at 3 p.m at Armstrong Field.