Foote Field – The Paul Kane Blues have their sights sets on winning the Miles conference final before focusing on Tier II provincial honours in high school football.
The 8-0 Blues battle the Ardrossan Bisons for the Miles championship Saturday before traveling to Grande Prairie to play St. Joseph in the Nov. 9 north semifinal.
The final kicks off at 11:30 a.m. at Clarke Park and admission is $5.
"It's great for so many of us. We've got a lot of excited guys. It's been a long year so far and a lot of accomplishments, but it's nothing unless you go right to the end," said Cory Knott, a superlative Grade 12 quarterback, after Friday's 35-18 nasty playoff tilt against the W.P Wagner Warriors.
The Blues will huddle up in a metro Edmonton league final for the first time since the 2011 juniors won the premier championship in the inaugural season of Paul Kane football.
The Blues, ranked second in Tier II (750 to 1,249 students), will also make their provincial debut as the No. 2 metro seed as the only Tier II team in the Miles semifinals. Ardrossan is the metro Tier III (450 to 749 students) provincial rep, Wagner is a Tier I (1,250-plus students) school and the O'Leary Spartans, who lost 17-7 to Ardrossan in the semifinals, is also a Tier I school.
"It's only our third year and to make a final and then to qualify for provincials is exciting for our football program," said head coach Rob Strecker.
The Austin O'Brien Crusaders are the No. 1 metro seed as the lone Tier II team in the Carr conference.
AOB, ranked 10th in Tier II as a 3-4 non-playoff Carr team, was out in full force to watch the Blues on Friday, with coaches and players perched high in the stands behind Paul Kane's bench.
If both teams win their north semifinals, they would square off Nov. 16 in Edmonton for the right to compete in the Alberta Bowl on Nov. 22 in Calgary. AOB is the two-time defending Tier II champions.
But the first order of business for the Blues is to bring a banner back to Paul Kane to hang on the wall of fame in the school's gym.
Strecker vowed the Blues will not look past Ardrossan with St. Joseph (9-1), ranked fifth in Tier II, on the dance card next weekend.
"I will not let it happen," he stressed. "I've been one game at a time every single game this year and right now we've got to focus on who we're going play in the final."
Knott said the Blues are committed to the cause.
"We've got some great guys. There are a lot of different personalities on the team and all good personalities too. Everyone is here to play football, have a fun time and win," said the Miles rushing leader with 883 yards on 61 carries for a conference-high 16 touchdowns.
The Blues can't take Ardrossan (5-3) lightly. In week four in the Miles schedule, and first place on the line, the Blues rolled up 43 unanswered points after falling behind 12-0 early against Ardrossan, en route to the 43-20 win in St Albert.
Kyle Boyko, a side-arm throwing quarterback, led the conference with 1,982 passing yards, with 98 completions out of a whopping 215 attempts for 15 TDs and six interceptions. His main target was Brett Enns, a big slotback who racked up a Miles-high 805 yards on 36 catches and scored 12 TDs.
Strecker insisted the Blues will bring their A game to the final after a somewhat close call against Wagner (4-5). The 17-point margin of victory was the closest for a Paul Kane team that averaged 60 points per win and gave up only 78 overall in league play.
"It was a tough football game but it was good for the boys too because of the adversity. We haven't been in a tough game all year and with something on the line too. Some of the boys I think tightened up a bit and this is good for them because from here on in there is no tomorrow," Strecker said.
Playoff tussle
Kieran Porter's one-yard TD burst and Knott's pass to Tyler Turner on the conversion opened the scoring to complete a 47-yard drive on Paul Kane's first possession. An unnecessary roughing penalty against Wagner put the ball at the one.
On the second series the Blues turned the ball over on downs at the Wagner 13.
Early in the second quarter, Knott lost the handle on the ball running to his right and Wagner recovered at the Paul Kane 40. A quarterback sneak on third down from the one finished the five-play Wagner drive. Frankie White roared off the edge to block the convert attempt.
After Knott was sacked and the Blues were forced to punt, Wagner cobbled together a series of run and pass plays down to the Paul Kane 38. But on second and 10, Theo Block stepped in front of a pass and some tremendous blocks by his teammates allowed the defensive back to scamper to the five.
"That definitely brought a lot of excitement to the bench and it pushed us to the next level," said Knott of Block's momentum-changing interception.
On first down, Ty Beck's five-yard TD dash with 79 seconds remaining until the break was initially called back because of a Paul Kane too many men penalty. However, after the officials discussed the call, it was reversed and the TD stood, which upset the Wagner coaches. Knott was stopped on the two-point conversion.
"Theo's interception was huge. It set us up in scoring position and we capitalized," Strecker said. "It was very reminiscent of the first game we played them (season-opening 35-16 win), where it was super, super tight and we couldn't get anything going until we had a big interception and that's what turned the tide for us. We went down and scored and it was the same thing today."
The 14-6 halftime lead was too close for comfort.
"They came out ready to play and we made some early mistakes and they took advantage," said Knott, who was picked off at the Wagner 50 with a few seconds left in the half. "We had to come out in the second half, keep a clear head and approach it like it's a new half. You've got to win the half and we did that."
The Blues smartly marched the opening kick off 72 yards, culminating with Knott's strike to Jon Pharis in the endzone on third and 10 from the Wagner 18. Knott's convert was no good.
Early in the drive Knott scrambled for consecutive first downs. A run to the right side, keyed by White's block, generated 15 yards. On the next play Knott gained 43 yards on left side as Pharis threw a big block on the play.
Knott also hit Block for a 16-yard completion to the Wagner 18.
Before quarter time, Knott's incomplete pass gave Wagner the ball inside their five.
In the fourth quarter, after another Paul Kane snafu on third down, Wagner wasted little time scoring from midfield to make it 20-12. The two-point conversion run was stopped short of the goal line.
After the kick off, the Blues drove the ball from their 49 to pay dirt on the strength of Knott's legs and arm, highlighted by catch and runs by Porter for 26 yards and Turner for 11 yards. On third and goal from the six, Knott faked a handoff to Porter and bolted up the gut for the TD. Knott's two-point completion to Turner put the Blues up by 16 with 7:04 to play.
Wagner replied with a three-play drive, all runs, which ended with a five-yard TD. The two-point pass play was unsuccessful.
Fawad Qadiri returned the ensuing kick off from out of the endzone to Paul Kane's 26. Knott then went to work and put together a good mix of run and pass plays to push the Blues into Wagner territory. But on third down, when Knott's pass fell incomplete, Wagner was flagged for a late hit on the quarterback and team's bench was nailed with objectionable conduct.
After the penalties the Blues huddled up at the 16. After another Paul Kane flag, and the Blues looking at second and 11 from the 17, Knott eluded several tackles to score with 89 seconds on the clock.
Knott finished the game with 133 yards on 15 carries and was 18-for-29 passing for 188 yards.
Rough play
All heck broke loose after Knott's TD as Wagner took their frustrations out on the Blues with some cheap shots around the line of scrimmage that drew a crowd of players to the scene. Strecker also raced on to the field to pull his players away from the disturbing scene. For his actions, Strecker was ejected from the game as well as the Wagner instigators.
"I was trying to get my players off the field, that's all I was doing. I did not want to get my guys suspended," explained Strecker, who wasn't the only coach from both teams to leave the sideline during the fracas. "Then, all of a sudden, they're saying, 'Coach, you're off!' I said I'm just trying to help you guys and the ref said, 'Well, that's my job.'"
On the successful convert attempt, another skirmish took place among the linemen. Matt Klassen of the Blues was ejected.
During the post-game handshake involving the coaches, offensive co-ordinator Randy Guy ripped into the Wagner coaches for their inability to control their players and more words were exchanged between the coaching staffs.
In Strecker's post-game address to the Blues, he apologized to the players for getting kicked out, noting it didn't look good for the program, but added: "All I was trying to do was defend our players. There was a lot of garbage going on out there."
Whether Strecker and Klassen would be suspended by the metro league for the Miles final was unclear at press time.
Overall, despite the brouhaha, Strecker was relieved the Blues pulled through in such a tight game by Paul Kane standards.
"At times it seemed like we were sort of hanging on. We would make a couple of big plays and turn the ball over. We had way too many penalties as well," he said. "Wagner really game-planned well against us. They didn't let Cory get to the outside and they also did a really good job of shutting down Tyler Turner (89 yards on nine catches in the win after grabbing 51 balls for 790 yards in league play)."
