The Cochrane Bantam Lions will be facing the Colts in the division 3 finals this Saturday after a convincing 58-22 win over the Raiders in the semifinals last week.

The Lions had a challenging 1-7 year in the tougher Ken Toone division this season before the pieces came together in the semifinals and head coach Paul Vaillancourt says the team was able to give their best performance of the year when the playoffs rolled around.

"On top of weaker competition, we actually had 10 days to get ready for the game and we played very well," says Vaillancourt. "I had time to install a new offense, based upon strength of the kids. Honestly, had we had a chance to do that throughout the season, we probably would have been closer to 500."

The team was the healthiest it had been all season and most of the key players were back in their regular positions, although a hand injury of starting quarterback Chase saw him play runningback, where he had an outstanding performance. Tyson Steele came in to start at quarterback and Vaillancourt says he played with confidence and had a solid outing. 

The Colts, who afforded the Lions their only regular season win, beat the Eagles 30-8 to advance to the final.

Game time is 9 a.m. on Hellard Field at Shouldice Park in Calgary.

No matter what happens, this will be the final weekend of play for the Lions. There is no provincial championship for division 3.

Six Lions selected for All Star Team Tryout

Six members of the Cochrane Lions will be trying out for the Calgary bantam all-star team and, if successful, could be seeing playing in an all-star game in Las Vegas, NV.

Jackson Streeter, Chase Hunt, Jacob Mate, Callum Currie, Dominic Mills and Ty Metcalfe have all been invited to the tryout that sees about 90 players try to crack the 30-player roster.

Coach Vaillancourt says making the team opens a lot of opportunities for the budding players.

"The percentage of CSBA all-stars that end up playing at university is extremely high and there's a good percentage of those who end up playing pro. CSBA is a good development league and the experience they get playing as all-stars in just fantastic."

Last year, three Lions were invited to tryout and quarterback Xavier Vaillancourt was named to the team.