Bellerose wins
The Bellerose Bulldogs made it two wins in a row against teams below them in the division one Carr conference standings.
Bellerose improved to 2-1 after Friday’s 22-12 decision against the Bev Facey Falcons (0-3). The bulk of the scoring was in the first half.
Gage Froese, Dorian Therqaj and Jordan Howe scored touchdowns while Evan Moroz picked off two passes and Evan Kumka had one interception.
The previous weekend, Bellerose was victorious 57-14 against the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds (1-2) in St. Albert.
Bellerose is now listed 10th in the Football Alberta Tier I (1,250-plus students) rankings.
Positioned above Bellerose from the Carr conference are the No. 2 Salisbury Sabres (3-0) and the No. 5 Harry Ainlay Titans (3-0), the 2018 champions and Alberta Bowl Tier I finalists.
Ainlay overwhelmed Bellerose 49-9 in the season opener.
The next game is Friday versus the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (2-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Foote Field.
Last year, AOB defeated Bellerose 49-14 in the playoffs as the Bulldogs finished 3-4 overall.
PK undefeated
The Paul Kane Blues maintained their perfect record by shutting out the McNally Tigers in Sherwood Park.
Friday’s 37-0 result in pool A of the division two Miles/division three Gilfillan conference in the metro Edmonton league was the third win in a row for the No. 9-ranked Tier II (750 to 1,249 students) team in the province.
Paul Kane piled up 30 points in the first half and the starters were pulled after the first series in the third quarter.
Despite missing six starters on defence, Paul Kane held McNally (1-2) to 72 yards of offence.
Ryan Holmes had a breakout game as linebacker with seven tackles and two interceptions.
Ben Gill also picked off a pass.
Offensively, Paul Kane racked up 306 rushing yards led by Aidan Purdon’s 114 on 14 carries for touchdowns of 22 and five yards and quarterback Jacob King gained 127 yards on eight runs and scored one TD.
King also tossed TD passes of five yards to Ty Bates and 21 yards to Roka Phelan-Baker while going six-for-13 passing for 82 yards.
Phalen-Baker was the leading receiver with five catches for 45 yards.
Paul Kane huddles up Friday against the O’Leary Spartans (1-2-1) at 5 p.m. at Larry Olexiuk Field.
Sturgeon rolling
The third win in a row for the Sturgeon Spirits was also the team’s first shutout of the season.
The second-year metro Edmonton football team blanked the Beaumont Bandits 49-0 Monday in Sherwood Park while posting 21 points in the first quarter and at the break led by 35 before resting a handful of starters the rest of the way as the second half was played with running time.
Grade 12 quarterback Zach Froese, last year’s Gilfillan conference MVP, ran for two touchdowns and passed for two more as Sturgeon quickly pulled away from Beaumont (0-3).
Will Campbell played the first half on offence and the lanky wideout caught six passes for 100-plus yards and one TD and also ran for another major.
Kyle Phillips was on the receiving end of a TD pass from Froese in the third quarter and leading up to the scoring play was a forced fumble as Lucas Campbell disrupted the exchange between the QB and running back and it was recovered at the Beaumont 22.
In the last quarter, Rylan Seewalt took a handoff from backup QB Logan Schendel to pay dirt.
One of the many field goals by Philip McLay in the blowout was set up by Rory Seewalt’s strip sack and Carson Antoniuk’s fumble recovery.
Karl Haasz and Kalem Steurmer spearheaded the defence as Sturgeon (3-1) forced four fumbles.
Last year Sturgeon beat Beaumont 37-7 in the playoffs, en route to losing the Gilfillan final 31-2 to the Ardrossan Bisons.
Last week Sturgeon (3-1) downed the O’Leary Spartans 25-7 in a physical affair at Larry Olexiuk Field.
It was 7-0 after the first quarter as Froese scored on a designed QB run and McLay converted the TD.
Kolby Phillips and Froese combined for a safety early in the second quarter as O’Leary took possession in the shadow of their goal post after picking off the Sturgeon QB.
After a 50-plus yard catch and run TD by O’Leary to trail by two points, Sturgeon regained momentum with another QB dash that covered 70 yards as Froese broke tackles cutting across the field while outrunning defenders. McLay’s convert made it 16-7 at halftime.
A scoreless third quarter included a bone-crushing hit by Campbell from his cornerback position.
In the last quarter, Campbell stretched across the goal line to reel in a four-yard pass from Froese.
Sturgeon’s swarming defence, led by Addison Chabbane and Steurmer, forced O’Leary to concede a safety late in the game.
Despite three red-zone turnovers, Sturgeon was able to run a more balanced ground and air attack than in the previous two games and the defence looked vastly different from the leaky unit in the 28-7 loss to the Paul Kane Blues (3-0) in the season opener.
A number of Sturgeon players didn’t dress because of sickness or injuries.
Froese battled through illness to rack up 200 yards on the ground on 11 runs.
Campbell also finished with 50 yards on four receptions.
Sturgeon, ranked sixth in Tier III (450 to 749 students) lines up against the St. Albert High Skyhawks (2-1) Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in St. Albert.
Skyhawks action
The St. Albert High Skyhawks have a home game scheduled Friday at Larry Olexiuk Field.
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. against the McNally Tigers (1-2) in pool A of the division two Miles/division three Gilfillan conference.
The Skyhawks (3-1) are coming off Friday’s 25-0 outcome against the O’Leary Spartans (1-2-1) in Spruce Grove.
A request for statistical information from the game was not provided by the Skyhawks at press time.
The Skyhawks are ranked fifth in Tier III (450 to 749 students) as the highest-seeded metro Edmonton team in the top 10.
Last year’s 8-3 record for the Skyhawks included losing their fourth-straight Tier III provincial north final to the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster, currently ranked second in the province, as well as falling short in the Miles conference final to the Archbishop Jordan Scots, 2-0 this year in pool B.
