The Edmonton District Soccer Association provincial playdowns kick off this week for the first-place St. Albert Impact division 1B and 2A women’s teams at the ESA Complex.
Thursday at 6:30 p.m. the division 2A Impact (13-2-1, 62 GF/16 GA) challenges the top division 2A team, Edmonton Warriors (12-1, 66 GF/19 GA) or FC Excelsior (11-1-1, 60 GF/6 GA), in the Tier II playdowns.
Saturday at 2 p.m. the division 1B Impact (9-3-4, 47 GF/13 GA) and Angels Scottish SC (11-0-2, 46 GF/13 GA), first in division 1A, meet in the Tier I playdowns.
The winners advance to provincials and the losing teams have one qualifying match remaining for the second provincial berth scheduled for Sunday in division two at 2 p.m. and Aug. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in division one at the ESA Complex.
Both Impact teams also earned promotions for next year. The 1B team moves up into premier and the 2A team will play in division 1A.
The St. Albert Minor Football Association U12 peewee and U15 bantam teams grace the gridiron Saturday in pre-season action at Riel Recreation Park.
The junior varsity Colts and senior varsity Riders (2015 Football Alberta and Capital District league Tier 2 champions) in the peewee division kick off the tripleheader at 10 a.m.
The junior varsity bantam Fury’s jamboree starts at 12:30 p.m. and the senior varsity bantam 49ers (2015 Capital District league Tier 2 finalists) play the Stony Plain Bombers at 5:30 p.m. in a tiering contest.
The premier and third division men’s teams at the St. Albert Rugby Football Club scrum down Saturday in Edmonton.
The thirds (2-8) visit the Lep/Tigers (6-3) at 2 p.m. in their last match of the season and the premier first 15 (6-2) battle the rival Clan (3-5) at 4 p.m. at Airways Park.
The thirds are winless in three matches after Saturday’s 46-22 loss to the Edson Axmen (6-3) at SARFC.
The firsts are ranked second in the Alberta Cup table as the No. 1 north team. The last match for the two-time defending Labatt’s Cup provincial champions was the 38-36 loss to the third-place Nor’Westers (5-3) Aug. 6 at SARFC. A converted try by the Nor’Westers on the last play of the match capped off a 14-point run with around 10 remaining after the firsts rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit with 29 unanswered points to lead by 12.
