The Carlton Crusaders opened their season with a 23-8 loss to the Lloydminster Holy Rosary Raiders on Friday night at Max Clunie field.

Crusaders’ head coach Lindsay Strachan said that coming back as defending 5A Champions they faced a quality opponent in the Raiders.

“It has been the first one in a while, but I guess big picture, it’s exhibition and you know what? We got to get guys lined up against the quality team,” Strachan said. “They’re well coached and they execute. Also in Alberta they I think they’re able to get back together a little bit sooner than we are here.

“You could definitely tell at times that polish was a little bit more evident on their side of the ball than it was ours,” he added.

The game may not have gone their way but Strachan did see positive effort.

“We saw

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