The Central Alberta Buccaneers put the Lloydminster Vandals into an early stranglehold during their AFL quarterfinal game before marching to a 79-7 victory last night.

Buccaneers quarterback Judah Knip threw seven touchdown passes in total, five of them coming in the first half.

By halftime, the score was 49-0.

Jesse McPhail led the receiving corps, catching three of those passes from Knip in the endzone. On special teams, he also returned a punt for a touchdown.

Receivers Tanner Olstad and Axsivier Lawrence also caught multiple touchdowns during the rout.

Knip praised his receivers after the game.

“Those guys are going to go balls to the wall every play and they’re going to find a way to get open,” Knip said.

Defensive back Tylor Johanneson also had a productive game. In the second quarter, the Bucs ran a trick play, with Johanneson attempting a field goal. Instead, he rushed for a touchdown. Johanneson also recorded two interceptions and with the game secured, took over as quarterback to close the game. He threw a touchdown pass to receiver Axsivier Lawrence.

During their regular season, the Bucs blew out the Vandals 58-14. Knip said despite the lopsided score weeks before, they came prepared to compete.

“You can’t take plays off. That’s when guys get hurt, especially in a big game; you keep your head on a swivel,” he said.

On the other hand, Johanneson ditched subtlety when talking about their expectations entering their contest against the Vandals.

“We spent this week prepping for the (Calgary) Gators,” Johanneson said. “At the end of the day, we felt that we were good enough to come in here and execute.”

The Bucs play the Gators on the road in the AFL semifinal and once again, Johanneson was confident about how they will fare. He believes the Bucs have favourable matchups at nearly every position.

“We’ve got a couple people who weren’t here when we played them the first time and when we played them the first time, we were right with them. We’re looking to go back to the championship game this year.”

Barring upsets in the AFL playoff bracket, the Bucs have likely played their final home game of the season, a bittersweet thought for Johanneson.

“We get people here in Lacombe that just come out to watch because they’re fans of us. They’re not related to anybody,” he said. “Here we just get people coming out because they like watching us play football.”