The Central Alberta Buccaneers are hoping they can turn the tide on their season after back-to-back losses.
The Buccaneers began the 2024 Alberta Football League campaign with a 36-14 win over the Calgary Wolfpack but have been unable to replicate that success since then.
In week three they fell to the Edmonton Elite 44-7 at the MEGlobal Athletic Park in Lacombe and most recently, were shut out 56-0 by the defending champion Cold Lake Fighter Jets on the road.
Team chairperson and defensive lineman Paul Jensen said the team is enduring growing pains with a young squad.
It also didn't help that they were short six key players and only had 21 available for their tilt with the Fighter Jets.
"Cold Lake is a well-oiled machine. They had all three phases of the game rolling and presented a challenge both physically and their knowledge of the game sure helped them too," he said.
"They were in most cases able to overpower us and their quickness on offence made it easy for them to gain the edge and get deep on us.
"We got hit pretty hard by the injury bug against the Edmonton Elite and Fighter Jets. We'll still be a bit shorthanded in the upcoming game which is not an excuse. We'll take who we got and go make a game out of it."
The Buccaneers have also made a change at quarterback. Sylvan Lake's Cameron Albert will take over the reins on offence from Teej Johannesson, who moved to the defensive side of the ball.
Albert's suited up at QB for the first time against the Fighter Jets and Jensen admitted they threw him into the fire but expects him to improve over time.
"We've got a pretty solid running game and I think teams keyed in on that after our showcase against the Wolfpack," he said.
"On the defensive side of the ball, I think we've been able to keep our opponent's run game at bay but we've had some holes in our secondary as well as our linebacker drew. We've got a pretty young group back there. The air attack has been our biggest weakness on both sides of the ball."
This Saturday, June 29 the Buccaneers will play a makeup game against the Airdrie Irish in Calgary after their game got postponed in week two because of the water main break.
"Both teams are coming off the same score in a loss and both teams are looking to get back in the win column. It may be too soon to speak but it definitely has a big impact on playoffs for sure."
The Buccaneers, who have a 1-2 record halfway through the season, are currently in fifth place in the league standings. To make the postseason, Central Alberta has to finish in at least sixth place out of seven teams in the standings.
"A win here and a potential win against Grande Prairie would move us into fourth. So it's kind of between that sixth and fourth seed."