The last play of the game decided Saturday’s peewee Tier 2 final between the St. Albert Riders and Edmonton Black Raiders in the Capital District Minor Football Association.
The Raiders were camped at the St. Albert one-yard line when the Riders’ defensive line rose to the challenge to stop a running play for an exciting 30-26 victory at Millwoods Park Field.
The repeat winners of the CDMFA championship will now challenge the Calgary Colts for provincial honours this Saturday. It’s a noon kick-off at Hellard Field in Calgary.
Last year, the Riders finished 6-4 overall as provincial finalists and this year’s 26-man roster features eight returning players.
The Riders are 4-4-1 after winning their third game in a row and second playoff match and the Raiders dropped to 4-5.
In league play the Raiders thumped the Riders 49-22 Sept. 20 in Stony Plain but it was a reversal of fortune for St. Albert in the rematch. The first half was all Riders as quarterback Jacob King ran in four touchdowns behind a dominant offensive line in the first half. Aidan Purdon converted three TDs as the Riders led 30-6 at halftime.
King also ran back the opening kick-off in the second half for another score but it was nullified due to a holding penalty.
The Raiders stormed back to make it 30-18 at the end of the third quarter and 30-26 late in the game before the Riders’ defence basked in the limelight of their game-ending goal-line stand.
The injury-plagued Bellerose Bulldogs felt the pain of losing 60-6 to the Bev Facey Falcons in the Carr division one semifinals Friday at Foote Field.
Facey romped to leads of 20-0 after the first quarter, 37-0 at halftime and 53-6 after three quarters.
Grade 11 phenom and world elite-level sprinter Chubba Hubbard carved up the Bulldogs in the first half with five touchdowns. He entered the playoffs with 27 touchdowns and 2,243 rushing yards on 112 carries. The next best numbers were 13 TDs by Jonathan Rosery of the Harry Ainlay Titans and Keaton Zaychkowsky of the Paul Kane Blues and 639 yards on 87 carries by Ainlay quarterback Cody Olson.
Facey (9-0) is ranked seventh in the nation as the No. 2 Tier I (school population 1,250-plus students) team in the province and had the outscored its opponents 468-107 before battling the Blues (8-1) in the Carr final Tuesday but the score was unavailable at press time.
The Bulldogs get off to a promising start by marching ball into Facey territory but the Falcons forced a turnover and it went downhill from there.
It was 46-0 when quarterback Morgan Sherban hooked up with Jaedon Carroll for a 25-yard catch-and-run scoring play with 2:09 left in the third quarter. It was Carroll’s sixth TD of the season. The drive featured some strong runs by Sherban to move the sticks.
Another bright spot was the play of defensive back Grayson Kurjata. The Grade 12 Bulldog was among the team’s leaders in tackles in his first ever start in high school football.
With seven regulars out of the lineup with injuries the Bulldogs were forced to call up 11 juniors. They had played the night before in the metro final and the junior Bulldogs overpowered Facey 41-6 for their fourth-straight division one championship.
The walking wounded included receivers’ Alex Lesko, Joseph Chaschin and D’Andre Plaizier, defensive back Logan Moreau, lineman Alexander Ranta, running back Zach Nuttall and linebacker/running back Colten Meronyk.
The Bulldogs also lost the services of Corbin Stewart at cornerback early in the game and defensive end Jake Mackay at halftime.
Nick Allen played despite a broken finger on his right hand, but it was heavily wrapped and he couldn’t play centre.
The Bulldogs (5-4), ranked ninth in Tier I, had to win their last two games in order to finish fourth in the nine-team standings for the right to play Facey in the playoffs.
The St. Albert 49ers gave it their best shot in Sunday’s bantam Tier 2 final but ended up on the wrong side of a 31-6 score against the Millwoods Grizzlies in the Capital District Minor Football Association.
Millwoods led 7-0 after the first quarter on an 85-yard kick-off return for a touchdown and 30-0 at halftime at Clarke Park. There was no scoring in the third quarter.
Andrew Nielsen’s TD strike to Ethan Wedman in the fourth quarter spoiled Millwoods’ shutout bid. They had combined for a huge catch-and-run play before the TD from close range of the endzone.
The 49ers lost 56-0 to Millwoods on Oct. 10 in St. Albert.
Millwoods improved to 4-5 after the win and the 49ers dropped to 2-7. The 49ers had lost six in a row before beating the Stony Plain Bombers (2-6) twice by scores of 10-0 in the last league before the playoffs and 22-13 in the semifinals.
