Notre Dame upsets Raymond in 5A football semifinal

Posted on November 27, 2025 by admin

By Garrett Simmons
Westwind Weekly News

It was a weekend of upsets on the Alberta high school football scene.

For the No. 2 ranked Raymond Comets, unfortunately, that means the southern Alberta powerhouse will not be playing for a 5A championship in 2025.

Saturday in Raymond, Calgary’s Notre Dame swept into town and left with a 31-13 victory, as the No. 3 ranked team in the province now moves on to the final.

Notre Dame will take on Ernest Manning, who defeated Alberta’s top team, Harry Ainlay, by a score of 23-20 in the other semifinal.

Saturday in Raymond, both teams battled it out in a first quarter that saw only a Notre Dame punt single. But a key third-and-five gamble by the Comets, with 2:26 left, was stopped short, to set the visitors up on the Comets 50.

On the last play of the quarter, Notre Dame connected on a long pass to put the ball on the Raymond four.

A few plays later, a Raymond pick six was erased by a Comets penalty, which allowed Notre Dame to sneak it over the goal line on the next play to make it 8-0.

Later in the quarter, a 19-yard touchdown pass from Walker Gibb to Gunner Nelson made it an 8-6 contest.

But with 2:11 left, a busted coverage left a Notre Dame receiver wide open, as the Calgary team responded with a TD to extend the lead to 15-6.

Raymond’s next drive featured a little trickery, as Gibb connected with Cody Harris on a long pass play, after a series of laterals, as the Comets moved the ball to Notre Dame’s four. Two plays later, Seth Harding pushed the ball across the goal line, as Raymond cut the lead to 15-13 with 37.8 left.

Just as momentum seemed to have swung Raymond’s way, Nore Dame returned the ensuing kickoff for six points and all of the sudden, it was a 22-13 game.

Raymond was forced to take a safety late in the third, which extended Notre Dame’s lead to 24-13.

From there, it was a defensive battle, as both teams were held off the board until Notre Dame put the game away with 3:55 left in the fourth quarter with another major.