The Interlake Thunder Varsity team won three straight road games to begin their Rural Manitoba Football League season.
On Friday, Interlake won a game at home.
The Thunder cruised to a convincing 48-12 victory over the Souris Sabres in their home opener at Stonewall Collegiate.
Interlake is now 4-0 on the season.
“It feels pretty good. It’s a good feeling and this is the first team that we beat that had a positive win record. It feels like it legitimizes us a bit, not that we didn’t think we were good,” said Thunder head coach Christof Hasselfield. “We stepped up.”
The win over Souris was a convincing one.
“Our kids went out there and executed in practice at a high level and I think this was our best game as far as being mistake free and penalty wise,” Hasselfield said. “We talked to the guys as to where we needed to apply the pressure to stop Souris and they really stepped up which made for a pretty smooth game.”
Thunder quarterback Ben Cook was fantastic, completing 19 of 24 passes for 387 yards and six touchdowns. He also rushed for 46 yards and two TD’s.
Cook’s favourite target, once again, was receiver Jessie Batenchuk. He hauled in seven catches for 150 yards and four touchdowns.
Noah Sandul and Ethan Eberts also scored majors for the Thunder.
On defence, Oliver Hamel had a strong game with seven solo tackles and two assisted tackles while Quinton Favel was also very good, adding seven solo tackles.
Not dominating on the stats sheet but having solid games were the Thunder’s two safety’s Dylan MacLean and Tyler Yourchenko.
Bryce Helstrom, a backup defensive back, also played well in spot duty, finishing with four solo tackles.
“He was solid when he was called upon, which was really good to see,” Hasselfield said of Helstrom.
Ian Grey, a middle linebacker, anchors the middle for the Thunder and really sets the tone with his hits, added Hasselfield.
The first-place Thunder fed off the good-sized crowd of supporters for their first home game of the season.
“I wouldn’t say it was surprising because we always get a pretty good turnout in Stonewall but it was exciting just to be a part of it again,” Hasselfield said. “This was our first home game, we started with the three on the road, and now we have three at home to wrap it up. It definitely gave us a boost to be at home and have the locker room and everything. The fans were awesome and they made a lot of noise. You could definitely feed off that energy and you could tell that some of the players did, too.”
Interlake will host the St. Vital Mustangs this Saturday in Stonewall. Game time is 2 p.m.
St. Vital blitzed the Swan Valley Tigers 66-35 in last week’s game. The Mustangs and Tigers are tied for second place, each with 3-1 records.
The matchup between Interlake and St. Vital should be a really good one.
“We have this (game) circled since the beginning of the year,” Hasselfield said. “With them being the No. 1 scoring offence and us having the No. 1 defence as not allowing scores. It will be a strength versus strength matchup. This is also the first year that the city teams are in the rural football league so there’s always going to be a part of you that wants to step up for the rural teams and set the tone that this is our league.
“It’s big, we’ve been looking forward to this one all year, basically, and now we finally get to do it. It’s going to be an intense week of practice, that’s for sure.”
Record photos by Lana Meier
