The Paul Kane Blues are tackling their first year of high school football with a winning attitude.
“We’re approaching it like we’re a contender in the league and we’re going to be competitive with everyone,” said head coach Steve Day after Wednesday’s practice at Lorne Akins field. “We’ve got lots of kids that have played before so we’re not approaching it as if we’re a new program or it’s a building year.”
The Blues will huddle up with a roster full of players from last year’s junior Hawks and senior Skyhawks at St. Albert Catholic High School (SACHS). Since the formation of the Metro Edmonton High School Athletic Association in 1988/89, Paul Kane students played football for the St. Albert Storm and the last 13 years at SACHS.
“We’ve got some great talent out here. We’ve got a great group of Grade 12 kids and we’ve got a lot of players at the Grade 10 level that are coming in, so both the junior and senior teams will be strong,” Day said. “Like most teams, we have a lot of skill and a lot of athletes. The biggest struggle right now for us as a coaching staff is moving them around into positions so that we get everyone where they need to be.”
Team Alberta defensive backs Nathan Mitchell and Brandon Jennings — silver medallists at the U18 Football Canada Cup this summer in Lethbridge — lineman Adam Sturgess and the dangerous Jesse Kushneryk will play prominent roles in the Carr conference debut by the senior Blues.
The depth chart at quarterback includes Matteo Sestito of the Skyhawks, Felix Schmidt of the Hawks and Grade 10 prospect Cory Knott.
The Blues have around 60 players in the fold to field a senior and junior team. Day expects more will show up when school starts on Wednesday.
“Coaching-wise, we’re excited. It’s nice to get all that paperwork out of the way and actually get on the field. We just want to get the season underway,” said the Paul Kane phys-ed teacher. “The buzz around the school and with the players has been awesome. The kids are excited to get going.”
The senior Blues kick off their season Thursday with an exhibition against M.E. Lazerte at 5 p.m. at the Riel Park turf field. League play starts Sept. 8 against the defending champion Salisbury Sabres at 5 p.m. at Clarke Park. The following week, the Blues host the Bev Facey Falcons, who are perennial tier I (school population 1,250-plus) provincial contenders. In the last nine years, either Salisbury or Facey has won the Carr final.
Six out of seven Carr teams make the playoffs.
“It will be a big thing to get that first win out of the way. After that, we can breathe a little bit and just keep working our way forward,” Day said.
Two must-win games for the Blues are Oct. 6 against the Bellerose Bulldogs and Oct. 13 against the Skyhawks. The latter game is already shaping up as the most-hyped Battle of St. Albert showdown since last year’s historic 7-0 conquest by Bellerose against the Skyhawks.
“It’s going to be exciting for St. Albert. It’s good for football here,” Day said. “I know the players are excited to play SACHS. There is a little bit of nervousness too, because those are their old teammates. They’ve got a lot of good friends over there and lot of them are still good friends with coach [Sam] Johnson and he’s done a great job with that program.
“As far as Bellerose goes, they’ve always had a rivalry with SACHS and I’m assuming it’s going to stay that way. There are just not as many ties with Bellerose as there is with SACHS for the kids.”
An interesting sidebar to the split between Paul Kane and SACHS is that Tim Enger, the first head coach in Skyhawks history, is now the offensive co-ordinator for both the senior and junior Blues. Last year, the Football Alberta technical director was an assistant coach with the Hawks and helped coached the bantam St. Albert Fury.
Day will also act as the defensive co-ordinator for the senior and junior Blues. His coaching resumĂ© includes four years as the defensive backs coach for the University of Alberta Golden Bears and he was the defensive co-ordinator for the 2000 tier II (750 to 1,249 students) provincial champion Foothills Falcons of Okotoks while serving as the team’s co-coach.
The former two-time All-Canadian defensive back with the Golden Bears was also drafted by the Edmonton Eskimos and spent a year on their practice roster as a safety.
Rounding out the coaching staff are teachers in the community with football backgrounds, as well as leading figures in the St. Albert Minor Football Association.
“We were planning for one coaching staff with one team and now we’ve got the numbers to run two teams,” Day said. “I’m hoping our coaching staff will gel a little bit and it grows as the program grows too.”
The junior Blues also have games on tap against the Hawks on Sept. 27 and Bellerose on Oct. 4 in their pool B round robin draw. League play begins Sept. 20 against the Archbishop O’Leary Spartans.
“The juniors start later than the seniors so that will give us time to get them ready to go,” said Day, who played high school football for the McNally Tigers before embarking on a five-year stint with the Golden Bears.
