Clarke Park – Christmas came early for the Paul Kane Blues.
The O’Leary Spartans presented the Blues 10 turnovers and the defending Miles division two champions unwrapped five of them for points in Thursday’s 36-0 defensive gem in metro Edmonton high school football.
“Our defence played amazing,” marvelled Naiem Qadiri, Grade 11 wideout, after the team’s third shutout in four games. “We wanted that shutout. That’s a Paul Kane record. That’s what kept everyone going and pushing harder.”
O’Leary fumbled the ball away seven times and Ty Beck, Mike Webb and Aiden Mueller picked off passes in the first-place showdown.
“On defence I don’t think we could’ve have done anything better,” said Webb, a Grade 11 cornerback. “We saw how they were holding the ball so we just tried to strip it every play we could. If not we hit them hard.”
On the first play from scrimmage after the opening kickoff O’Leary coughed up the ball and the next offensive series the Spartans fumbled the pigskin away on a second down play.
The third time on offence O’Leary attempted a deep pass that was tipped away from the intended receiver by Shaydon Phillip and Beck made a basket catch at the Paul Kane 26 with 5:30 left in the first quarter.
After the early rash of turnovers the game bogged down into a punt-fest until quarterback Brendan Guy engineered a run-oriented 94-yard drive, culminating in Phillip’s 36-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown with two minutes remaining until halftime. It was Phillips’ division-leading eighth TD. Guy also hit Qadiri for the two-point conversion.
On first down after the kickoff Webb stepped in front of a pass at the O’Leary 51 for his third pick in three games. The Blues settled for a 30-yard field goal by Nick Parrotta with 34 seconds to play.
The ensuing kickoff was fumbled by O’Leary at its 46 with 28 seconds to go. On first down Guy teamed up with Kelly Repato for a 16-yard reception and on the next play the polished Grade 11 pivot threaded the needle to a streaking Qadiri down the hashmarks for a back-breaking 30-yard TD to make it 17-0 with five ticks on the clock.
“We started off slow at the start and then obviously we picked it up,” said Qadiri, a sneaky quick receiver who celebrated his second TD of the season with a great burst into the endzone.
The first half started with an exchange of fumbles. O’Leary knocked the pigskin loose from receiver Gregg Hebb at its 31 and then quickly turned it over on a run play as the Blues swarmed the ball carrier. Phillip picked up the hot potato and returned it for a short gain to the 30. A third down conversion by Kieran Porter set the stage for Repato’s five-yard TD catch as the Blues led by 23.
With the Blues back on defence, Mueller pulled off a leaping interception at the O’Leary 32 late in the third quarter.
With 8:34 left in the game the Blues capitalized on another turnover as Webb scooped up a fumble deep in O’Leary territory and ran the ball into the house.
The Blues closed out the win with two fumble recoveries, including one off a punt, and Porter’s short-yardage run with time expired ended the game.
“We knew these guys were good so we wanted to finish strong,” Qadiri said. “Our coaches have put in a lot of work for us and we wanted to show these guys what we’ve got.”
The Blues improved to 4-0 while O’Leary dropped to 3-1.
“They’re pretty good. We’ll probably see them in the final too,” said Webb, 16, of the O’Leary squad that beat the third-place McNally Tigers 21-8 in the season opener.
“It means a lot to be undefeated,” Webb added. “We have a good chance at winning cities again.”
Last week the Blues knocked off McNally (1-2) 41-24 despite being flagged 16 times for a total of 42 infractions in three games. Penalties were also a problem against O’Leary.
“Penalties were killing us,” Webb said. “We have to work on that.”
The No. 2-ranked Tier II (750 to 1,249 students) team in the province is on pace to duplicated last year’s undefeated record in the Miles despite graduating a boat-load of talent. The Tier II north finalists finished 10-1 overall in the third year of the Paul Kane football program.
“Our coach (Rob Strecker) said this was supposed to be a rebuilding year but we are strong and we’ve got speed and a lot of teams are surprised,” said Qadiri, 16. “Last year those guys played great and we wanted to come back and show everyone that we’re still the best team out there. A lot of people have been saying that we’ve got nothing but we’re going to show them what we’ve got and play our hearts out.”
Thursday the Blues host the Ardrossan Bisons (1-2) at 5 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park. Admission is $5. It’s the second-last game before the playoffs. A win would guarantee the Blues a bye in the Oct. 24 semifinals.
