The first trip to the bantam Tier 1 provincials was short lived for the St. Albert Fury.
The early exit was Saturday’s 49-14 semifinal loss to the Calgary Grey Cowboys at Shouldice Park in Calgary.
“As disappointing a loss as this was it was the capper to the best football season a bantam team in St. Albert has experienced in some time,” said Tim Enger, head coach of the 6-3-1 Fury.
Special teams were not so special for the Fury, as they failed to follow the game plan and punt the ball away from Cowboys’ standout Jacob Izquierdo, son of former Edmonton Eskimo, J.P. Izquierdo.
The first two times Izquierdo picked up a punt, he wound up in the endzone.
The Cowboys pushed it 28-0 with two long drives before the Fury answered with a lengthy march, culminating with Jake Pasqual’s five-yard run.
The Cowboys added two more TDs before halftime to make it 42-7.
In the second half the Fury came out firing as quarterback Sam Cuciz led his team down field on the strength of five completions in a row before a facemasking penalty put the bantams at the one-yard line for Pasqual to finish off.
Unfortunately, the following kick off was returned by the Calgary bantam league champions for a TD to wrap up the scoring.
Cuciz finished 10-for-25 passing for 222 yards.
Keaton Zaychkowsky was the team’s top rusher with 78 yards and pass receiver with five catches for 11 yards.
Colton Meronyk led the Fury in tackles with six.
The loss was the Fury’s second in a row after falling 55-34 to the undefeated Sherwood Park Rams for the Capital District Minor Football Association championship.
It was the first appearance by a St. Albert bantam team in the Tier 1 final since the formation of the CDMFA in 1992 after semifinal losses in 1993, 2003 and 2011.
The last St. Albert team to win a provincial bantam title was the 49ers in Tier 2 in 2004.
