Already on the prowl ahead of the season, the Bow Valley Bobcats are looking to unleash the beast on the gridiron this year with a renewed aim to prove they can be among the top of the food chain in the local high-school football scene.
Head coach of the Bobcats football team and Bow Valley High School alumnus Dustin Paul said the new-look team already looks significantly stronger than they did at any point last season.
“I’m expecting big things from us this year,” Paul said. “I really think that we’re going to be competitive and compete for the league championship this year.”
Paul said a combination of higher levels of buy-in from both players and coaches, along with the rebuilding of the Bobcats’ football culture are contributing to the strides the team is making in the lead-up up to the 2023 football season.
“I think for a long time, the culture went by the wayside,” he said. “Last year, we really started to rebuild the culture that Bobcat football should be, and we have really been implementing that since last year and it’s made strides in the program already.”
Alongside many of last year’s roster returning for the new season as Grade 11s or 12s, Paul said there are a bunch of fresh faces in Grade 10 who will be joining the Bobcats’ ranks.
“So that’s always a good sign of things,” he said. “A couple of them have been playing here their entire career since Grade 10, and just seeing the difference in their first year to now is night and day.”
Last year, the Bobcats rendered one win – a 28-6 victory over the Springbank Phoenix. Bow Valley finished the 2022 campaign with a 1-6 overall record.
Reflecting on his own time as a Bobcat 20 years ago, Paul said a major goal he has this season is to bring back a winning culture to the school.
“My first year, we just came off back-to-back championships in ’02 and ’03, so there was a winning culture and a winning environment already in place,” Paul said. “So, I’m trying to bring that back into the fold and bring the excitement [and] background in Bobcats football, and just more community involvement, and more people just wanting to be involved with the team itself.”
Through that continued fostering of team spirit, Paul said it has already resulted in noticeable improvements in the team.
“I just want to see the guys compete, have fun, and start getting some Ws for us,” he said.
The Bobcats will play their first preseason game this Saturday against the Canmore Wolverines at the Millenium Field in Canmore at 1 p.m. Their first regular-season game in the Rocky View Sports Association will follow the week after.
