The best high school football team in St. Albert last year now wants to be the top dawg in the Metro Edmonton league.
"I don't want to be the champion of St. Albert. I want to be the champion of the Carr conference," said a confident Chad Hill, the field general for the Bellerose Bulldogs. "Our job is to win every time we play."
It was a major milestone for the Bulldogs to finish 3-3-1 overall in a very tough conference last year — highlighted by a historic 7-0 triumph against the rival St. Albert High Skyhawks.
"We'll probably be light on experience compared to many other teams," said Hill, who coaches players from the Bellerose and Sturgeon high schools on the senior and junior teams.
"A lot of people probably feel that we're in a rebuilding mode but the goal is the same," he said. "We have our standards set and the standard is to win and be competitive in every game, whether it's St. Albert High or Bev Facey."
Thursday at 7:30 p.m. the Bulldogs will line up against the Harry Ainlay Titans, the 2010 Edmonton public league champions and tier I provincial finalists. The exhibition at the Riel Park turf field is the last tune-up before the Sept. 8 league opener against the Bev Facey Falcons. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m.
"We're going to treat Ainlay like it was a league game basically. We want to go in there and compete and play hard," Hill said. "We will definitely rep more guys through than we would in a normal regular season game. We want to be crisp and sharp."
Friday night in Grande Prairie, the Bulldogs played the host team in an exhibition and lost 27-21. The next day, they participated in a multi-team jamboree before returning home.
"A lot of young guys performed really well Friday night. Some of them have already been sent to junior or will be going into junior," Hill said. "Overall we definitely got better throughout the game with lots of different guys taking reps."
Hill rattled off a long list of Bulldogs who shone bright in Grande Prairie.
"[Joshua] Dobbins was very good. He had an interception from his safety position and threw for a touchdown and ran for two," he said. "Dallas [Moroz] threw the ball pretty well too and had a few nice completions.
"We platooned our running backs so [Robert] Blunden and [Kyle] Duperron didn't get a whole lot of carries that game. They're going to be pretty important players for us all year so we didn't want to give them too many reps. We wanted to see what some of the other guys can do, like Tim Burger, a Sturgeon boy who has never played football before. He is a Grade 11 kid and he led us in yards for running. He played very, very strong. Very slippery but still very raw. He has a lot to learn but his upside is tremendous. He is a very coachable young man.
"Nick Svenson, a Grade 10 kid, scored a touchdown off a Dobbins pass. He broke a tackle and ran it in. He also came up with huge blocks in the backfield from his running back position for us to complete another pass. We also put him at D end for a little while and he was really strong there too.
"Luke Lewandoski, who is new to the program but not new to football, was strong on the D line for us. He is a nice addition to our roster.
"Ryan Shorten should be leading our linebacking core. He is a very strong player.
"Ben Graunke, who is getting the rust off from the DB position, came up with some big hits that got us pumped up.
"We're also expecting big things from Liam Gray. He gets a lot of pressure rushing off the edge.
"Jed Groenenboom made a couple of nice catches from the slotback position. He also ran the ball really well. He was another standout for us as well throughout the weekend."
Hill left Grande Prairie knowing the junior Dawgs will be in good shape this year.
"We're probably going to have more experience on our junior team than we've ever had, as well as some good athletes too. I think all but one player on the O-line has played football in the past," said Hill, the head coach of the senior team since 2008 and the junior team since 2005. "I'm expecting big things from the juniors. Of course, we want to develop each player and get better, but our goal is definitely to be very competitive and to be playing in the [premier] final."
Battle of St. Albert
As for the senior Bulldogs, their season will be not only be measured by how deep they go into the playoffs, but whether they beat the Skyhawks on Sept. 15 and the Paul Kane Blues on Oct. 6.
"Of course the games against the crosstown rivals are extra special. Those are the games that are going to draw the crowds. They're also exciting for our players too," Hill said. "I'm not going to lie, last year's senior and junior games against St. Albert High were very memorable games for all the players, but I don't want to just focus on two games a year."
Last year's seven-point margin of victory by the Bulldogs flattered the Skyhawks, who played like they were scared to lose while Bellerose wanted to win in the worst way. It was the first Bellerose victory in the Battle of St. Albert after seven losses. The biggest game of the year in St. Albert high school sports also packed the stands. The Oct. 13 clash between the Skyhawks and Paul Kane is expected to break that single game attendance total last year at Riel Park field. This is the first year for football at Paul Kane. The Blues split ranks with the Skyhawks after 13 years of playing together at St. Albert High.
At the junior level, the Dawgs clipped the St. Albert Hawks 16-14, marking the first time in six years Bellerose beat St. Albert High in the junior showdown.
"What made us successful last year is that we had the mentality where we were the hunter. We were chasing St. Albert High down and I want us to keep that same mentality. Let's not slow down and think they're coming after us. Let's get after them and keep that same underdog mentality," Hill said.
"As for Paul Kane, nobody off our senior team represented Alberta at U18 [Football Canada Cup] but they've got Nate [Mitchell] and [Brandon] Jennings who did. They've got a lot of Grade 12 athletes too. I want us to keep that hungry attitude and that mentality that where we're going after them too."
