The St. Albert Stars are one victory away from playing for the Alberta Football League championship after shutting out the Grande Prairie Drillers in last weekend’s playoff at Riel Recreation Park.
The winner between the Stars (6-3, 316 PF/150 PA) and the host Calgary Gators (8-0, 554 PF/34 PA), last year’s finalists, in Saturday’s semifinal at Shouldice Athletic Park will huddle up against the Fort McMurray Monarchs (7-1, 519 PF/54 PA) or Central Alberta Buccaneers (7-2, 233 PF/160 PA) in the Sept. 12 final.
The Stars are winless against top-three AFL teams by scores of 53-0 against the Gators in Calgary, 60-7 against the Monarchs in St. Albert and 19-6 against the Bucs in Lacombe.
Two years ago the Stars reached the final in their AFL debut and lost 41-6 to the undefeated Gators to finish 6-4 overall.
Last year the Stars finished 3-5 after kicking off the playoffs with a 21-1 loss to the Monarchs.
The Stars had no trouble rolling up 67 points against the fifth-place Drillers (3-6, 120 PF/355 PA) in the playoffs after beating them 17-3 in the season opener in Grande Prairie.
In league play Matt Jarvis led the AFL in rushing touchdowns with seven and ranked second in yards with 649 on 77 carries.
Quarterback Troy Pappas was sacked a league-high 13 times while going 61-for-129 passing for 1,109 yards and 15 TDs.
Aaron McComish registered 9.5 sacks to lead all AFL defenders, Adam Nesbitt picked off a team-best five passes and Mike Bryski and Erik Kyler ranked fourth and fifth in the AFL in tackles with 42 and 38, respectively.
The Bellerose Bulldogs travel to Red Deer on Friday to play the Notre Dame Cougars at 5 p.m. in high school exhibition football.
The Carr division one lid-lifter for Bellerose in the metro Edmonton league is Sept. 4 against the Harry Ainlay Titans at 5 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park.
Last year Bellerose was docked three wins on the eve on the playoffs because of two ineligible players on the senior team. According to metro Edmonton policy, in an event of an ineligible player participating the team for whom the individual competed shall forfeit all matches in which that person has participated while ineligible.
Bellerose appealed the Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association ruling but was unsuccessful.
As a result Bellerose went from 5-2 tied for second place to 2-5 for sixth out of eight teams and in the playoffs lost 15-0 to the Titans.
The first game for the Paul Kane Blues before their Carr division one debut in metro Edmonton high school football is the Sept. 3 exhibition against the Groesbeck Goats in Texas.
The undefeated Miles champions the last two years kick off league play Sept. 10 against the Spruce Grove Panthers at 6 p.m. at Fuhr Sports Park.
The Battle of St. Albert between Paul Kane (Tier II provincial team) and the Bellerose Bulldogs (Tier I) on Oct. 2 is shaping up to be the game of the year. The last two St. Albert showdowns between Paul Kane and the St. Albert High Skyhawks (Tier III) in the Miles were epic blowouts of 56-0 last year and 78-14 in 2013 by the Blues.
This is the fifth year for Paul Kane football after serving as a feeder school for the football program at St. Albert Catholic High School.
St. Albert’s bantam teams are co-hosting the last Capital District Minor Football Association jamboree before league play starts.
Sunday at Riel Recreation Park the 49ers play the Fort Saskatchewan Lightning at 10:30 a.m., Wetaskiwin Warriors at 11:15 a.m. and Edmonton Seahawks at noon.
The Fury, last year’s undefeated CDMFA bantam Tier 3 champion, will line up against the Stony Plain Bombers at 2 p.m., Sherwood Park Northstars at 2:45 p.m. and Camrose Buffaloes at 3:30 p.m.
The jamboree consists of 30-minute games with no kicking and special teams.
