St. Albert’s first and second division men’s teams scrum down today at Ellerslie Rugby Park.
At 12:30 p.m. the first 15 tackle the Strathcona Druids (4-6) in the Alberta Cup fixtures.
It’s a must-win game for the firsts (5-5), ranked third in the premier table after road losses of 33-25 to the provincial champion Calgary Hornets (9-0) and 29-25 to the fourth-place Calgary Canucks (4-5).
Last year’s provincial finalists are fighting the second-place Clansmen (6-4) for a playoff bye into the Sept. 22 north final.
A victory against the fifth-place Druids would set the stage for the Aug. 25 showdown against the rival Clansmen to determine the highest-ranked Edmonton team. The last game before the Sept. 8 semifinal kicks off at 4 p.m. at Airways Park.
At 4 p.m. the second 15 battle the Grande Prairie Centaurs in the Edmonton Rugby Union.
The last-place seconds (3-9) have lost four in a row, including last month’s 63-51 decision against the first-place Centaurs (10-3) in Grande Prairie.
The Alberta Soccer Association U12 Tier I boys and girls and U16 Tier II boys provincial championships are under way in St. Albert.
Matches are scheduled for the Riel Recreation Park turf field and the Eldorado, Erin Ridge, Hodgson and Salisbury fields. The tournament headquarters is Eldorado field.
The tournament draws feature eight teams, including the host St. Albert Impact. The format is two groups of four with crossover and medal finals.
On Saturday the U12 Impact boys play at 10:30 a.m. against Leduc United (Battle River) and 3:30 p.m. against Foothills (Calgary 1) at Eldorado.
The U12 Impact girls are in action at 9 a.m. against NSDSC United (Calgary 1) at Eldorado and 2 p.m. against Big Country at Hodgson.
The U16 Impact boys compete at 9 a.m. against Blizzard Storm (Calgary 2) at Eldorado and 3 p.m. against Lethbridge FC at the turf field.
Sunday’s gold-medal matches at Eldorado start at 9:30 a.m. for U12 girls and 11 a.m. for U12 boys and U16 boys.
Visit www.albertasoccer.com for schedules and results.
The St. Albert Cardinals wrap up their season this weekend at the Western Canada Bantam AAA Baseball Championship in Regina.
Today in the pool B the Cardinals are up to bat against British Columbia and Saskatchewan 1.
The Cardinals opened the eight-team tournament Friday against Manitoba 2, but the score was unavailable at press time.
The playoffs are Sunday.
The Cardinals are listed as Alberta 2 in the draw after finishing third at provincials. Alberta 1 is Spruce Grove, the provincial finalists.
The Cardinals were 37-10 overall going into westerns.
