Rob McNab has seen a lot of football, a lot of senior bowls, a lot of big games.

So when the South team racked up 130 yards in penalities, and squandered away field position with miscues in the first half of the Senior Bowl, it wasn't anything he hadn't witnessed before. 

"I've done this so many times, this is the way it is, so I wasn't panicking," said Head Coach McNabb. "If the defense wasn't playing well we would have been in trouble, but they were playing well and we were all right."

The South's offense sputtered in the first half and the team was down 9-3.  By midway through the fourth quarter they had  a 26-9 lead and gave one back late in the game to walk off the field with a 26-15 victory in the May 23 Senior Bowl at McMahon Stadium, making it three straight wins against the North all-star squad.

Defence ruled the day until South QB Cole Belway connected with Cochrane's Zach Rube with a 43-yard touchdown pass. That game changing play had been sitting waiting.

"You have to have a couple of failures to get that big play, and we did," says McNab. "We got stuffed a few times, but then it opened up the big play."

Rube had run the route several times so when the ball aired his way deep in the North's territory he was ready to make it count.

"We didn't try it before that and I was getting a little frustrated, but it felt good when it to finally opened up," says Rube. "After all the flags and everything that start off the first half, it was like 'finally we can get it going now'. We always had that confidence."

It was also Rube's first reception of the game and he went on to receive three more to top the receiving corps with 83 yards.

Cochrane Cobras quarterback Tae Gordon agreed the first half was challenging. 

"Definitely a really shady first half, but we had an unreal group of guys and they brought it in the second half," says Gordon.  "Things were flipping and we wanted them to flop and things weren't going our way. At half time they brought us in and settled us down, they weren't chewing us out or anything, but they told us, 'we've got us, we know what we're seeing, it's just not clicking right now but when we do it's our game'. The defence played an unbelieveable full game and the offense helped them out a little bit in the second half."

Gordon threw for 84 yards on 9 of 22 attempts and gained 53 yards running. He kicked four of the team's nine punts, the longest 45 yards.He also threw a six pick that lead to a North touchdown

The defence allowed only one touchdown and included a stand out performance by hard-hitting linesmen Dylan Gingrich-Hadley, the only defensive player from Cochrane, with two tackles and an assist.

Defensive linemen coach Dean Lang, of the Bow Valley Bobcats, was impressed with the calibre of the players on the line and how well they came together in a matter of days.

"I think we have unbellieveable kids. The d-linemen were incredible. There were some big hits and that's what you want, you don't want it be be a blow out."

Cobras linebacker Kane Boklaschuk had two receptions for 16 yards, one carry for three yards and a sack. Runningback Brad Hillier, of the Bobcats, had eight carries for 16 yards.