If there was a roof, it would have been blown off by the loud cheers of parents sending off the Cochrane Cobras football team to their provincial championship game.

This morning, over 40 parents came armed with banners, noisemakers, and their loud cheers to send off the team to Red Deer to face Edmonton's Austin O'Brien Crusaders for the Tier 2 ASAA title game.

Parent Marcy Hallden says the parents have been keeping spirits high all season with their own brand of team building.

"We've had a great group of parents," she says. "We fed the boys every Monday night since the beginning of the team. We've been revving it up a little bit with our support of the program."

Stands have been packed all season since the Cobras began playing on their school's new artificial turf.

Right after the Cobras' two buses departed, many of the parents loaded into their own vehicles to head to the game in Red Deer, about 1 1/2 hours north of Cochrane. Kick-off is at 4 p.m. at Great Chief Park.

The Cobras grabbed an early 17-0 lead against the tough HTA Knights in the ASAA Tier 2 South Final last weekend and held on for a 17-15 nailbiter.

The last time they met the Crusaders in provincials was 25 years ago. It was the second of two Tier 2 provincial championships for the Cobras before going on to dominate Tier 3 play for two decades.

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