A tie was better than a loss but it wasn’t as good as a win for the Paul Kane Blues.
Friday’s 14-14 draw with the Leduc Tigers left both teams deadlocked at 2-2-1 for the fourth and final playoff spot in the division two Miles conference, with two games remaining before the metro Edmonton league playoffs kick off on Oct. 26.
Paul Kane will have to play its very best football of the season in must-win games at Larry Olexiuk Field against the Archbishop Jordan Scots (4-1) on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. and against the St. Francis Xavier Rams (1-4) on Oct. 19 at 5 p.m.
“We have not played to our full potential. We have yet to see that. We have not played a very well-rounded game yet. It will be good when we do,” said Ethan Wedman, a Grade 12 safety and slotback.
The result against the Scots could have a bearing on the second metro qualifier for the Tier II (750 to 1,249 students) north semifinals.
In Week 6 of the Football Alberta top 10 Tier III rankings, the Austin O’Brien Crusaders of the division one Carr conference are listed fifth, the Scots are eighth and Paul Kane is unranked for the third week in a row.
“It’s a huge game,” said head coach Rob Strecker. “We need to find a way to make some plays. It just seems at this point right now and the last couple of games we haven’t come up with the big play when we needed to come up with it, and it’s been on both sides of the ball. If we need a big stop we haven’t been able to get it, and when we need to score we haven’t been able to get it and it’s been really frustrating. I figured by now we would have things coming together and there are still just too many mental mistakes at the wrong time in the game.”
Paul Kane is up for the challenge against the Scots.
“We know it’s a big game and we know we have what it takes. We just need to focus on the little things right now and try and tie our team together. We have to rally the boys and get them ready for this big game and the rest of the season,” Wedman said.
Paul Kane lost two in a row by scores of 29-0 to the St. Albert High Skyhawks (5-0) and 42-27 to the M.E. Lazerte Voyageurs (3-1-1) before regaining some traction against Leduc.
“Leduc was good. We were actually moving the ball on offence; we just couldn’t punch it in, and we actually scored on defence twice, which is good,” Wedman said. “We tied it all together; just a little more from our offence is all we need. The past weeks have sort of been either our offence or defence keeping us in the game. That night we played really good.”
Luke Eady opened the scoring late in the first half with a 30-yard pick-six but Leduc answered with a 70-yard touchdown run on the last play before halftime.
Wedman’s third interception of the season was a pick-six covering 57 yards early in the third quarter.
“I broke on the ball. I sort of read the quarterback’s eyes and he was throwing it to my zone so I was able to read that and pick it off,” Wedman said.
Late in the fourth quarter, Leduc marched the ball and scored with 45 seconds to play.
On its final possession, Paul Kane drove the ball to the Leduc 35 but because of injuries the Blues elected to go for it on the last play rather than kick a 42-yard field goal and were unsuccessful.
Offensively, Paul Kane rushed for close 200 yards but stalled numerous times inside the 30, including a first-and-goal from the two early in the contest at Emerald Hills.
“The defence held us in there and gave the offence an opportunity. We moved the ball but we just can’t seem to punch it in. We’ve stalled down by the goal line and we’ve stalled inside the 20, so we’ve got to find a way to get the football in the end zone to score some points and help the defence out. We can’t be relying on the defence to score points for us. Our job as an offence is to score points and we’re just not getting it done now,” Strecker said.
The defence is rounding into form quicker than the offence for Paul Kane (112 PF/97 PA).
“We’re getting better every week. We had an off-week against M.E. Lazerte on defence, but we really got back at it this past week,” Wedman said. “Our defence is getting a lot better at stopping the run and even better at stopping the pass.”
Last year, Paul Kane finished 7-3 as the finalist in the Miles and was Tier II north semifinalist.
The current roster is young and athletic after the graduation of 12 players but the football IQ is still a work in progress.
Wedman, 17, is encouraged how the season has progressed.
“It’s been really good, a lot of fun. Everybody’s had good energy,” Wedman said. “Some of the games we would’ve liked to have won. Some have gone our way or haven’t gone or way but we’re all enjoying it.”
