Losing by 22 points to the team to beat in the playoffs was a moral victory for the Paul Kane Blues.
The high school football team finished 3-5 in the Carr conference after Thursday’s 36-14 setback to the powerhouse Bev Facey Falcons (7-0) at Riel Recreation Park.
“It’s always upsetting when the season ends and it’s disappointing for a lot of the seniors obviously because it might be their last football game, but everyone had a lot of fun,” said Grade 11 quarterback Cory Knott.
In the second half Facey sat out some key starters as the Blues outscored the third-ranked Tier I team in the province 14-1.
“We decided there is nothing to lose so we went out with as much as we could,” said Knott.
He hooked up with Frankie White for two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, including a 75-yard catch and run to the wide-open Grade 11 slotback with 5:46 to play.
Facey attempted two field goals in the second half and hit the upright on the first try in the third quarter and settled for a single point on the play before White’s second TD.
In the first half the defending Carr champions scored five TDs while posting leads of 6-0 at quarter time and 35-0 at the break.
Tyler Turner’s pick around the Paul Kane 10 in the last minute of the opening quarter halted a Facey scoring drive.
Knott, 16, was intercepted three times in the second quarter and Facey converted two of the turnovers into TDs.
Facey also recovered a fumble at the Paul Kane 21 and on third down scored from the 21 to lead by 20.
On the last TD in the half, the Blues were flagged three consecutive times for unnecessary roughness – twice for late hits on the Facey passer and a dead ball foul in the endzone on the one-yard quarterback sneak with 14.5 second to go.
“Our first quarter was really good and our defence played really strong,” Knott said. “In the second quarter we slowed down a little bit.”
Despite the loss, the season was a huge success for the senior team in only the second year of football at Paul Kane. Last year the Blues failed to win a league game and were outscored 180-18 in six losses. They were shutout four times and failed to register a point in their last three games. This year the Blues scored 194 points and gave up 170.
“It’s an improvement from last year for sure. Our coaches are super excited about the season. We did awesome,” Knott said. “We have a great team with a lot of great athletes and the coaches are awesome. We could’ve done even better than we did so obviously there is room for improvement. Next year we’ve got a lot of returning players so we should be even better. Our Grade 11s will have to work hard in the offseason with fitness stuff to make that happen.”
Paul Kane’s roster consisted heavily of players from last year's 7-1 premier junior championship team.
Knott, the 2011 Grant Yuzyk Award winner as the most outstanding junior in the metro league, finished his first year of senior football with 15 TD passes and 10 interceptions.
Going into the Facey game, Knott was 62-for-121 passing for 1,238 yards. He was also the team’s leading rusher with 496 yards on 42 carries. Turner, a Grade 11 slotback, was also the league’s top receiver with 651 yards on 28 catches and the team leader in TDs with nine.
“It’s great experience to play at this level when you’re in Grade 11. You know what is coming next year and you’re more prepared for it because going from junior to senior is a big jump,” Knott said.
