Today’s tripleheader at Riel Recreation Park kicks off at 10 a.m. between the peewee Riders and Millwoods Grizzlies in the Capital District Minor Football Association.
It’s the first regular season contest for the senior varsity Riders, who lost last weekend’s exhibition to the Sherwood Park Bulldogs 28-6 at Emerald Hills Field in Sherwood Park.
The 12:30 p.m. bantam game features the senior varsity 49ers against Millwoods.
The 49ers won their league opener 38-30 against the Sherwood Park Wolverines last weekend at Emerald Hills.
The junior varsity peewee Colts huddle up at 3 p.m. against the Sherwood Park SabreCats.
Last weekend the Colts lost 40-12 to the host Wetaskiwin Wildcats.
Sunday the junior varsity bantam Fury play the Wolverines at 12:30 p.m. at Emerald Hills.
The Fury dropped a 47-35 decision to the Spruce Grove Cougars last weekend in St. Albert.
Next Saturday the Fury and 49ers clash at 12:30 p.m. in St. Albert.
The Bellerose Bulldogs kick off their Drive for Five in metro Edmonton junior football Tuesday against the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds.
The pool B game starts at 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Park.
The Bulldogs, winners of four consecutive championships, are 29-0 in the regular season and playoffs since losing the 2011 semifinal to the Bev Facey Falcons.
The Bulldogs huddled up in Wednesday’s exhibition against Facey, a pool A team the Bulldogs whipped 41-6 in last year’s division one final.
Facey dressed its speedy Grade 10 running back that played for the senior Falcons in the 45-1 drubbing of the Bulldogs in the Carr conference division opener Sept. 2 and scored both TDs against the Bellerose juniors in the 14-14 draw at Johnny Bright Park.
The Bulldogs got on the board in the third quarter with a TD run of 40-plus yards by Sheldon MacKay and the convert was blocked.
Down 14-6 with a few minutes to go, Andrew Nielson hooked up with Trey Lavoie for a 65-yard bomb but Lavoie was pulled down by a horse-collar tackle at the five and suffered a lower-body injury. There was no flag on the play.
Nielsen’s five-yard TD dash was followed by Nathan Brake’s two-point conversion run to knot the score.
Dylan Long led the defence with numerous tackles and an interception from his outside linebacker position.
The home opener for the Paul Kane Blues in metro Edmonton junior football is Tuesday against the Memorial Marauders.
The pool B game kicks off at 5 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park.
Last year’s wild affair against the Spruce Grove juniors saw the Blues roar back from an 18-0 deficit to win 22-18 with Shoya Lavoie’s 15-yard TD run with 12 seconds left.
The Blues placed second in pool B and finished 3-2 in league play after losing the division one opening playoff match 19-16 to the third-place pool A Harry Ainlay Titans.
The teams hooked up Tuesday in exhibition action at Johnny Bright Park and the Blues emerged victorious 20-0 with half the roster size of Ainlay, which boasts of a larger school population than Paul Kane.
Spearheaded by Team Alberta U16 quarterback Russel Dixon, the Blues scored three times in the first half on touchdown strikes of 95 and 25 yards to slotback Ty Baird and Dixon’s two-yard run.
Defensively, the Blues gave up a lot of yards with turnstyle tackling but stiffened when it counted to keep Ainlay off the board. Linebacker Teagan Taylor led team with seven tackles in the first half.
Both teams mixed up their lineups in the second half and the result was a stalemate. Ainlay reached the red zone three times but the Blues rose to the occasion for the shutout.
Josh Dahunsi was awarded the game ball after the defensive end in only his second week of football recorded four tackles for losses despite being smaller in stature than Ainlay’s offensive tackles.
