Week two in the Capital District Minor Football Association pre-season kicks off Sunday for St. Albert’s peewee and bantam teams.
The doubleheader at Riel Recreation Park starts at 10 a.m. between the senior varsity peewee Riders and Stony Plain Bombers.
The 12:30 p.m. bantam tilt features the junior varsity Fury and senior varsity 49ers.
The peewee junior varsity Colts play the Spruce Grove Cougars at 10 a.m. at Fuhr Sports Park.
The Paul Kane Blues make their Carr conference division one season debut Friday in the metro Edmonton league.
Kickoff is 5 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park.
The senior Blues graduated a boatload of talented players after finishing 8-3 overall as the Carr finalists and Tier II (school population 750 to 1,249) provincial north semifinalists in the fifth year of the Paul Kane football program.
The Blues placed second in the Carr standings at 7-1 in their first division one campaign since 2012, which was the last season before the merger of the metro and Edmonton public leagues.
The third consecutive metro final for the Blues after back-to-back undefeated Miles conference division two championships was the 45-6 loss to the Bev Facey Falcons. Facey also beat the Blues 50-40 in the regular season.
The junior Blues play their first metro pool B game Sept. 20 against the Memorial Marauders of Stony Plain at 5 p.m. in St. Albert.
The Bellerose Bulldogs tackle the reigning Carr conference division one champions in Friday’s metro Edmonton opener in Sherwood Park.
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. against the Bev Facey Falcons at the new Emerald Hills Regional Park located behind Archbishop Jordan High School.
Facey repeated in the Carr playoffs last year for their eighth metro senior banner in 11 years.
The Bulldogs and Harry Ainlay Titans tied for third in the regular season with identical 5-3 records but Bellerose was slotted fourth in the playoffs because one of their losses was against Ainlay.
In the semifinals the injury-plagued Bulldogs were manhandled 60-6 by Facey. They also suffered a 54-7 drubbing by Facey in league play.
In the junior ranks, the undefeated four-time defending metro division one champion Bulldogs begin their quest for a five-peat in the Sept. 20 pool B match against the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds at 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Park.
The 29th consecutive victory in the league and playoffs for the team of players from Bellerose and Sturgeon high schools was 41-6 against the Bev Facey Falcons in last year’s division one final.
Meanwhile, the junior and senior Bulldogs have exhibitions scheduled today against the Mount Boucherie Bears at the Apple Bowl in Kelowna.
The metro Edmonton lid-lifter for the St. Albert High Skyhawks is Sept. 7 against the McNally Tigers.
The rematch of the 2015 Miles conference division two final kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Park.
The Skyhawks, the only Tier III (school population 450 to 749 students) team in Miles last year, lost 25-8 to McNally.
The Skyhawks placed third in the Miles standings at 3-3 and finished 6-5 overall after falling 28-0 to the Holy Rosary Raiders of Lloydminster in the Tier III north final.
It was the Skyhawks’ fourth year as metro reps in the Tier III provincial playdowns since 2011, when the Paul Kane Blues established their own football program instead of serving as a feeder school for the St. Albert Catholic High School team.
