The St. Albert Fury and the Edmonton Chargers renew their bantam rivalry in today’s tier I semifinal in the Capital District Minor Football Association.
Game time is 3 p.m. at Clarke Park.
Last year in the tier II final the Chargers defeated the Fury 33-7.
In league play this year the Chargers (7-0) handed the Fury (6-1) their only loss by a score of 48-14.
The Fury are coming off an impressive 26-20 win over the Edmonton Black Raiders (5-3) in the tier I/II quarter-finals.
Seth Waselenchuk opened the scoring with a three-yard touchdown in the first quarter.
With less than two minutes left in the half, Dylan Shorten caught a short pass in the end zone from Shaydon Philip. Nick Cowan’s convert made it 14-6.
With 14 seconds to go in the third quarter, Waselenchuk scored his second TD on a short gain to put the Fury up by 14.
A Fury fumble at their 18 led to a converted TD by the Raiders with seven minutes to play.
After the kickoff, Rory O’Donovan capped off a 45-yard drive with a three-yard TD. After the blocked convert the Fury led by 13.
The Raiders added a one-yard converted TD with two minutes left.
Philip’s game-saving tackle at the Fury 12 on a Hail Mary pass with seconds remaining sealed the deal.
The semifinals in the Capital District league kicks off this weekend for St. Albert’s minor football teams.
In tier III bantam, the 49ers (2-5) line up against the Spruce Grove Cougars (3-4) Sunday at 5:30 p.m. at Clarke Park. Last weekend the 49ers thumped the Fort McMurray Ravens 51-6 in the tier III/IV quarter-finals.
In tier II peewee, the Riders (5-3) and Fort McMurray huddle up today at 3 p.m. at the Riel Park turf field. The Riders suffered a 14-12 loss to the Edmonton Mustangs in the tier I/II quarter-finals.
The Colts (2-5) host the Edmonton Seahawks (4-3-1) in Sunday’s tier III peewee tilt at 5:30 p.m. The Colts knocked off the Millwoods Grizzlies 30-8 in the tier III/IV quarter-finals.
In the atom division the Vikings and Buccaneers are in action Sunday in Sherwood Park. The Buccaneers (1-7-1) take on Spruce Grove (2-7) at 12:30 p.m. in tier IV and the Vikings (5-4) play the Stony Plain Bombers (2-6) at 5:30 p.m. in tier III.
In the tier III/IV quarter-finals the Vikings whipped the Fort Saskatchewan Storm 45-6 and the Buccaneers were shut out 26-0 by the Edmonton Eskimos.
The Belleorse Dawgs ran out of time in Wednesday’s 17-12 loss to the Bev Facey Falcons in the metro Edmonton premier junior semifinals at Johnny Bright Park.
It was 16-0 for Facey when the Dawgs got rolling on touchdown runs by speedster Tyler Thorsley from the four with one second left in the third quarter and a 60-yard burst with 9:25 to play.
A punt single by Facey with 2:43 remaining closed out the scoring.
A punishing Bellerose defence kept the game close as the offence struggled moving the ball despite some tough running by Nick Svenson.
In the second quarter Facey kicked an 18-yard field goal. Before the end of the half, Facey pulled off a fake punt that led to a one-yard major. After the kickoff, Facey picked off a pass and with three seconds to go and booted a field goal from outside the 25 to lead by 13.
Facey added another field goal from 30 yards in the third quarter.
The loss left the Dawgs 3-1 in league play and 5-2 overall. Facey is 4-0 going into Thursday’s final against the Paul Kane Blues.
The Bellerose Bulldogs gave up 28 unanswered points before finding the end zone against the Salisbury Sabres in Tuesday’s 28-7 playoff loss.
A four-yard touchdown run by quarterback Dallas Moroz was converted by Robert Blunden with 3:57 remaining in the Carr conference tilt at Clarke Park.
The loss was closer than Salisbury’s 51-14 drubbing of the Bulldogs in the metro Edmonton league.
In the rematch, big plays put Salisbury on top. After a sack by Liam Gray left Salisbury looking at second and long, the Bulldogs gave up a 26-yard TD catch in the end zone with 77 seconds left in the first half. The convert left the Bulldogs trailing by 21.
Salisbury ended the third quarter with a 42-yard TD romp.
The worst defensive team in the conference (32.5 points-against in six games) did a good job in keeping Salisbury from running up the score. Gray was a tackling machine until injuring his shoulder with nine minutes left in the third quarter. Hayden Borlase’s interception in the fourth quarter also gave the Bulldogs a glimmer of hope.
In league play the Bulldogs finished in a three-way tie for fourth place at 2-4. The tiebreaker formula was points for and against between the three teams in games against each other and the Bulldogs wound up in sixth spot. The team’s overall record was 2-7.
Salisbury is 8-1-1 overall as the fifth-ranked tier I team in Alberta.
