Spruce Grove - It’s official: The Paul Bane Blues are back with a bang in Carr division one football.
The undefeated Miles division two champions the last two years in the metro Edmonton league celebrated their triumphant Carr return by overpowering the Spruce Grove Panthers 34-13 Thursday at Fuhr Sports Park.
“It’s a great statement game,” said Brendan Guy, a Grade 12 quarterback who scrambled for more than 100 yards in the win. “Everyone thought we would get rolled by at least 21 and it looks like the opposite happened here tonight.”
It’s the first Carr tilt for the Blues since 2012, before the merger of the metro and Edmonton public leagues, after an impressive 18-2 run the last two years and both losses were in the Tier II provincial north playoffs to the eventual Alberta Bowl winners.
“It’s great, especially when lots of people were saying we weren’t going to win a game and we weren’t going to score a touchdown so this is kind of exciting for the team to go out there and do that,” said head coach Rob Strecker. “But you know what? It’s one win. I know we still have targets on our back. Next week it’s Bev Facey. We’ll try and give them a game. We’ll do what we can.”
Kickoff is 5 p.m. Friday at Johnny Bright Park against Facey (2-0), the No. 2-ranked Tier I team in the province and defending Carr champions as winners of six of the last eight finals.
“We have to keep the intensity up and fight hard. Every game is going to be a battle. It’s going to be like facing McNally in the city finals every game this year. It’s going to be hard but we’re going to do it,” said Guy, in reference to last year’s 50-45 rollercoaster thriller against McNally in the Miles final.
The Blues ratchet up their level of play against the Panthers (1-1) in the second half after leading 12-0 at the break.
“We have always been a second half football team. Our conditioning plays a big part and we just seem to wear teams down and I think that might have been the case today,” Strecker said. “We also had some boys that stepped up and made some big plays. Tanner Buchanan was fantastic making catches to keep drives going. Brendan extended drives with his legs with key first downs and Keaton Zaychkowsky just made some incredible catches and some great runs for four touchdowns. Our special teams also made some recoveries on some short kicks. It just builds the rest of the boys up when they see all that happening.”
The Blues were on a mission in the Carr opener and scored on their opening possession on the second play from scrimmage after Aiden Block recovered a short kick-off by Rosaio Cammarata at the Panthers’ 53. Roberto Parrotta also wrestled an onside kick away from the Panthers to start the fourth quarter.
On second and 10, Zaychkowsky ran wild into the endzone 44 seconds into the match.
“It was just a big morale booster. It boosts momentum and gets everyone going,” Strecker said the blazing start.
The defensive unit rose to the challenge after the Panthers scored on their first possession in the third quarter with a four-yard TD pass. The Panthers were gaining traction with their pass attack toward the end of the second quarter and it continued into the second half during the TD drive before the Blues buckled down.
A pair of sacks by Julian Pawlychka and another by Nathan Klassen were pivotal plays in the contest.
Ansah Isaiah also hauled in a ball that was tipped by a defender in front of a receiver around the Paul Kane 40 for a pick-six in the second quarter.
“The defence played well throughout the entire game,” said Guy, 17.
After the kick-off following the Panthers’ TD, Guy rolled out to his right and bolted for the first-down marker but was tackled and coughed up the ball and a 15-yard penalty against the Blues on the play put the Panthers on the Paul Kane 20. The Blues stood their ground and the Panthers tried a fake field goal that was stopped short of the first down and the ball was tuned over on downs at the Paul Kane 20.
From there the Blues marched down field with authority, culminating with a nine-yard swing pass to Zaychkowsky and last year’s junior MVP cracked the goal line with extra effort with 4:10 left in the quarter to make it 18-7.
But the play of the drive, and arguably the game, was Buchanan’s highlight-reel catch behind two defenders near the sideline before the Grade 12 slotback was tripped up at the Panthers’ 23.
“That rollout (on second down and 17) where I threw over the top to Tanner, when he got that 40-yard gain, was a good turning point. That was pretty solid,” said Guy, who scampered 14 yards on the next play to the nine.
Zaychkowsky got the drive rolling with a catch and run for a first down and the Panthers were penalized 15 yards on the play to push the Blues closer to the midfield stripe.
The next time on offence, Buchanan pulled off a sensational catch near the sideline, spun around and gained sizable yardage to the Panthers’ 49. On third and one, Guy bolted up the gut to the 16 and on the next play hooked up with Zaychkowsky for his third TD. Cammarata converted the score to end the third quarter with the Blues in command at 25-7.
In the fourth quarter, Cammarata booted a 20-yard field goal and when it was 28-13 Zaychkowsky busted loose for a 26-yard TD with 1:27 to play.
“We have that ability to finish,” Guy said. “The first half they played with us the entire time but in the second half everybody picked it up. The receivers started blocking. The line protection was solid. It was a wall. Nobody was going to get through there at all. We started completing passes. Receivers were making cuts. Running backs were making it through. We pulled ahead and kept it going.”
