Clarke Park – The Bellerose Bulldogs left their mark on the football field in Thursday’s junior championship four-peat.
The 29th consecutive victory in the metro Edmonton regular season and playoffs for the team of players from Bellerose and Sturgeon high schools was their 41-6 domination of the Bev Facey Falcons in the division one final.
“Words can’t describe how honoured we are to keep the streak going and how our team has made it four in a row,” said quarterback Quade Kozak, while embracing the moment during the post-game celebration. “When we played Paul Kane (season-opening 14-7 win Sept. 29) I told you we were going to bring home another championship and we did. We did it for the city of St. Albert.”
The Bulldogs rose to the challenge with the longest winning streak in St. Albert football history on the line.
“It’s a lot of weight off our back. At the start of the year in preseason we didn’t start off too good (three straight losses). It was kind of like the pressure was on and we’ve got to keep that record going and I’m just glad we were able to pull it off,” said lineman Brendan Laycock.
One the of the three exhibition losses to kick off the season was 29-0 against Facey on Sept. 15 in St. Albert
“We knew we were going to be playing a tough team and we had come out fighting and we did that and I don’t think Facey was ready for it. The preseason game we played them they had a false sense of how the Bulldogs actually really play and I think this is who we really are,” said Kozak of the Facey team that was undefeated in five games before the final.
The last win of the season was the ultimate high for the 6-0 Bulldogs.
“It’s a crazy feeling. There is nothing really like it to be honest,” said linebacker Ryan Brown. “This has been our best game. Offence was able to put up points and defence was able to hold them. Our boys played great.”
After a scoreless opening quarter the Bulldogs lowered the boom on Facey with two touchdowns by Kozak and Ben VanLeeuwen booted field goals of 16 and 20 yards late in the half.
It was 34-0 when Facey broke the shutout with a 20-yard TD with 3:26 to play.
“Defence was tough. They came out to shut us down but we weren’t going to allow them to shut us down. We kept fighting. We wanted to bring home another championship,” Kozak said. “In the fourth quarter when we were up by 27 we didn’t really want to say we were going to win it because our momentum would shut down but by the last three minutes or so that’s when we realized that we were going to be champions and we just had to hold them off from scoring too many touchdowns.”
In the opening quarter on Facey’s first possession, Brown’s quarterback sack on third down at the Bellerose 12 was the first of numerous big-time defensive plays by the Bulldogs.
“We all spent a lot of time watching film. We went over their plays and we were able to shut them down because we knew what they were doing,” said Brown, 15, a little pit bull with multiple QB sacks who also made tackles all over the field.
On the first play of the second quarter, Facey was first down at its 35 when a snafu on a pitch play in the backfield resulted in Matt Coogan’s fumble recovery at the 24. The next play Kozak weaved his way into the endzone on the QB keeper and VanLeeuwen kicked the convert.
The next possession for Facey ended with a loss of yards on second down on a group tackle led by Laycock and a short punt put the Bulldogs at the 27. Four plays later, Kozak scoring from the two and VanLeeuwen converted the TD with 6:40 left in the half.
Bryce Workman’s interception and short gain to the Facey 14 set up VanLeeuwen’s 16-yard field goal with 2:29 to go.
After Facey turned the ball over on downs at its 37, the Bulldogs settled for a 20-yard VanLeeuwen field goal with 1:29 on the clock.
In the last minute in the half the quarterback coughed up the ball with Laycock pressuring and Coogan fell on it at the Facey 38.
“The offence was clicking and the defence was holding them back from getting any first downs,” said Laycock, 16, of the 20-0 halftime advantage.
The Grade 11 Bellerose student was among several defenders like Brown, Kyle Viczko and Matt Jeffers who racked up the tackles after the break.
“The second half was a little scary but we got back into it after getting warm (at halftime in the dressing room). We were a little complacent but we got back on track,” said Laycock, a defensive end/offensive tackle.
The play of the game was a wicked 64-yard catch-and-run TD by Kozak with 43.5 seconds remaining before quarter time after Facey turned the ball over on downs in Bellerose territory. Kozak lined up at slotback and Adam Bochar filled in at QB on the TD strike that drew the loudest cheer of the night. VanLeeuwen kicked the convert.
“That was one of the trick plays we did. We’ve been practicing it all season but we haven’t really wanted to show it until playoffs,” Kozak said.
Another trick play was a fake field goal in VanLeeuwen’s vast range, as the holder, Cooper Schykulski, threw a dart to Jeffers and he was tackled at the one. Two plays later, Kozak scored his fourth TD and VanLeeuwen split the uprights with 8:06 left in the final.
“To be able to have four touchdowns that was just amazing. That’s something everyone hopes of having in a championship game,” said Kozak, 15, a Grade 10 Sturgeon student.
After the ensuing kick-off, Keanin Paziuk picked off a pass at the Bellerose 35.
VanLeeuwen, an offensive linemen and first-year football player who moonlights as a running back, closed out the scoring with a 60-yard TD romp and he converted the score with 2:45 to go.
“We went into this game with the mentality that we have a strong possibility of winning and we wanted to keep that streak going,” said Brown, a first-year football player and Grade 10 Bellerose student. “What it means to the school is that we are an outstanding program for all the football players and with the people we’ve got we’ve been able to keep this streak alive and it’s been a great ride.”
The metro record for consecutive junior championships is five, held by the St. Francis Xavier Rams (1991 to 1995).
THIRD DOWN: Kozak was the Bulldogs’ nominee for the Grant Yuzyk Trophy as the pool B MVP. The winner, as voted on by the junior team coaches, was quarterback/safety Cordell Callioux of the Paul Kane Blues. Callioux is the eighth St. Albert player to receive the junior MVP award since its inception in 1988. Past winners include Keaton Zaychkowsky (2014) and Cory Knott (2011) of the Blues, Mitch Millett (2005) and Trace Stuht (2013) of the Bulldogs and Colin Cardinal (2004), Brett Fabian (2006) and Mike Spagnola (2008) of the St. Albert Hawks.
