It's been a challenging season for the Cochrane Lions bantam football team but with playoffs set to start next Wednesday the team is hoping to turn it around and contend for a provincial title.

The Lions had the toughest schedule of the league, says head coach Paul Vaillancourt, after being moved up to the top division this season. With an 1-7 record in the regular season of the Calgary Bantam Football Association (CBFA), they've competing in division 3 for the playoffs. They face the Airdrie Raiders in an Oct. 25 semifinal game and if they win they advance to the finals on Nov. 4. A win there would see them advance to a semifinal match in provincial playoffs.

"Our goal is to be provincial champs in division three which is not where we wanted to end up," says Vaillancourt. "We'd love to be division one provincial champs but a provincial championship is a provincial championship."

The Lions lost their last regular season game against the Rebels, 14-0, on Oct. 14. All the scoring was in the first half.

"Every season is unique and this one has been a bit challenging. We have some good football players and we have some good athletes but we've been hit by the injury bug and then we have a lot of multi-sport athletes. At one point we were missing a lot of guys to hockey tryouts and that put stress on the other guys. But that's football. You have to be able to adjust."

They hope the adjustments made will help them climb the provincial ladder.

"I think the injury bug is behind us a little bit," says Vaillancourt. "We've shifted players around and we're ready to make a run for it."