The ninth edition of the Battle of St. Albert between the Bellerose Bulldogs and St. Albert High Skyhawks in high school football kicks off Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Riel Park turf field. Admission is $5.
Last year the Bulldogs downed the Skyhawks 7-0 for their first win after eight losses. The biggest game of the season in St. Albert high school sports also set the record for the largest turnout to watch a football game in St. Albert.
The Skyhawks (1-1 overall) and Bulldogs (0-3 overall) are coming off mixed results in last week’s lid-lifter at home in the metro Edmonton league’s Carr conference.
The Skyhawks defeated the Archbishop Jordan Scots 27-7. Grade 10 quarterback Keith Zayl, a transfer student from Florida, fired touchdown strikes of 25 yards to Brendan Thera-Plamondon and 50 yards to Danton Tait-Vanderheide and ran for another major.
In the Football Alberta rankings, the Skyhawks are listed fifth in tier III and the Scots (1-1 overall) are 10th in tier II.
This is the Skyhawks’ first year in team history without players from Paul Kane High School in their line-up.
The Bulldogs are picking up the pieces from a devastating 51-0 loss to the Bev Facey Falcons (2-0 overall), the number-one ranked tier I team in Alberta. The team of players from Bellerose and Sturgeon high schools gave up 30 points in the first half and trailed by 44 after three quarters.
The St. Albert Steel host the Sherwood Park Crusaders in Friday’s home opener in the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Puck drop is 7 p.m. at Performance Arena.
Tickets are $13 adult, $10 senior/student and $6 child. Children six and under get in free.
Single seats and family packs ($30 – two adult and two youth admissions) are now available through the Steel’s online box office. They can be pre-purchased 24 hours a day at www.steelhockey.ca.
The St. Albert Slash make their season debut Saturday in the Alberta Major Midget Female Hockey League. Game time against the Lloydminster Steelers is 2:15 p.m. at Performance Arena.
The teams meet again Sunday in Lloydminster at 2:30 p.m.
In 2010-11 the Slash finished 23-6-3 in league play for second place in the north standings. They also placed fifth out of six teams as the tournament hosts at the Esso Cup national championship.
The team’s overall record was 41-15-4.
