The Paul Kane Blues have high hopes for a bounce-back game after their Carr conference division one season-opening loss in the metro Edmonton league.
Thursday’s kick-off is 5 p.m. against the Spruce Grove Panthers at Riel Recreation Park.
League play started Friday and Paul Kane dropped a 24-6 decision to the Jasper Place Rebels in St. Albert and the Panthers fell 20-8 to the Harry Ainlay Titans in Spruce Grove.
The Football Alberta week one Tier I (1,250-plus students) top-10 rankings list Ainlay fourth and the Rebels 10th.
Paul Kane and the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (1-0) are the only Tier II (750 to 1,249 students) schools in the nine-team Carr standings.
A sloppy Paul Kane performance included miscues on offence, plus a couple of costly turnovers and weak special teams resulted in the first 18 points by the Rebels. It was 11-0 at halftime.
Strong defensive play kept the score respectable.
Isaiah Ansah scored the lone Paul Kane touchdown. He is among 10 returnees from last year’s 8-3 Carr finalists and Tier II provincial north semifinalists in the fifth year of the Paul Kane football program after back-to-back undefeated Miles conference division two championships.
The Bellerose Bulldogs make their home debut Thursday against the Salisbury Sabres in the metro Edmonton league.
The Carr conference division one kick-off is 7:30 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park.
The Bulldogs are picking up the pieces from Friday’s 45-1 crushing loss to the defending champion Bev Facey Falcons in Sherwood Park.
The Bulldogs struggled against Facey, the No. 2-ranked Football Alberta Tier I team and winner of eight metro senior banners in 11 years.
Grade 12 star Chuba Hubbard ran wild for three touchdowns, including a highlight-reel 105-yard score late in the first half as the 2015 Haliburton Trophy winner as the Carr most valuable player (27 TDs and 2,243 yards on 112 carries in the eight-game regular season; 3,213 yards and 39 TDs overall) broke tackles and out-ran angles.
Hubbard committed to the Oklahoma State Cowboys prior to the season. The top football prospect in Canada, according to the respected CanadaFootballChat website, received 24 United States college scholarship offers.
Last summer Hubbard finished fourth in his age division in the 100 metres at the IAAF World Youth Championships in Columbia.
Quade Kozak’s 65-yard punt single was the only point for the Bulldogs, who trailed 8-0 after the first quarter and 22-1 at halftime.
Last year’s results against Facey were losses of 54-7 in league play and 60-6 in the semifinals against an injury-decimated Bellerose lineup as the Bulldogs finished 5-4 overall.
The Bulldogs are striving to clean up mistakes on offence and improve their tacking on defence against Salisbury, 38-18 losers to the Austin O’Brien Crusaders in their Carr opener.
Thursday’s metro Edmonton lid-lifter between the St. Albert High Skyhawks and McNally Tigers is a rematch of last year’s Miles conference division two final.
Kickoff is 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 first home game for the 2015 Tier III provincial north finalists is Sept. 23 against the Leduc Tigers at 5 p.m. at Riel recreation Park.
The Skyhawks finished 6-5 overall last year.
