By Robb Fenton
It wasn’t exactly their toughest test, but the Lloydminster Vandals finished the Alberta Football League regular season in style.
The Vandals earned their first shutout of the season Saturday afternoon, blanking the Sherwood Park Renegades 40-0 at Armstrong Field.
The Vandals led 17-0 after the first quarter and put it on cruise control the rest of the way.
“We knew coming in they were travelling light and they’re a bit of a weaker team. We knew we wouldn’t be in danger of losing the game, but we wanted to get everyone in and keep everything going, keep the tempo and flow going and not change up too much, so we did alright there,” Vandals wide receiver Glen Dembicki said.
The Vandals scored just 35 seconds into the game and didn’t let up.
Jordan Priebe caught a Jared Valleau pass and turned it into a touchdown after blowing by a defender.
Curtis Vetter added a touchdown just four minutes later after he rumbled in from a few yards out and Brad Ollen tacked on three points with three minutes left in the quarter.
A Valleau touchdown and two more Ollen field goals were all the scoring in the second quarter as the Vandals took a 30-0 lead into the half.
Priebe admitted the game was a bit dull, but said his team did enough to come up with the win.
“They’re an expansion team, so it’s tough for them. We just had to focus. We weren’t real sharp today, even in the first half we could be a lot better, so we’ll have to gear up for likely Grande Prairie,” he said. “They’ll be tough so we have to make sure we focus in the next couple weeks.”
The Vandals added 10 points in the third quarter on another Ollen field goal and Dembicki’s second touchdown catch of the year, which capped off the scoring.
“It felt really good to get in there and get some catches,” Dembicki said. “I had one catch last year for a touchdown, two this year for touchdowns.”
From here, the Vandals will now shift their attention to the playoffs and even though they have a week off in between their final regular season game and the AFL semi-finals, they know what they have to do to.
The week off is nothing new for the Vandals, which should make it easier to prepare for the semis.
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“We have to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year. We’ve had bye weeks and we have such good football players when they get out on the field on game day they seem to know how to crank it up for the game,” Dembicki said.
While there isn’t much to take away from the win against the Renegades, the Vandals know what is going to make them successful in the post-season.
The veterans who have been here before will be sure the team is on top of their game come Aug. 28 when they host the winner of one quarter-final matchup.
“We have to make sure we’re clicking on offence. The past two games, not including this one, were our best two weeks. If we can get back to that form, we’ll be fine,” Priebe explained.