Rangers win
The St. Albert Rangers were victorious in Monday’s division 1A season opener in the Edmonton District Soccer Association despite playing a man short the entire match.Mike Thompson scored a brace and Dave Letourneau was stellar filling in as the team’s goalkeeper in the 2-1 decision over FC Fizi at ESA South Complex.
Thompson, one of the original Rangers from the Dieter Knobloch era still kicking, floated in a beauty from about 25 yards and also pulled off a neat little chip over a sprawling goalkeeper on a break following a fabulous through ball from Noah Boyko after linking up with Ben Smith.
Last year the Rangers placed fourth in division 1A at 7-3-4 for 25 points and was plus 17 in goals for/against and Fizi was the top division 2A team at 9-3-2 for 29 points and was plus 19 offensively.
The next match for the Rangers is Saturday versus Sherwood Park Karpaty at 2 p.m. at ESA Complex.
This is the second full season the Rangers do not a have home match scheduled at Riel Park.
Impact women
All three St. Albert Impact premier women’s teams were in action Tuesday and two of them were looking to locate the back of the net after Sunday’s shutout losses to kick off the season.Scores were unavailable between Impact 1 (Spaidal) and Hearts United, Impact 2 (Bourbonnais/Brown) versus Wind and Impact 3 (Murphy) against Northwest United in the Edmonton District Soccer Association.
League play started with losses of 3-0 for Impact 2 against Victoria and 7-0 for Impact 3 against Angels Scottish SC.
Two goals in 10 minutes in the second half by Victoria opened the scoring after Impact 2 was unable to cash in two breakaway opportunities and couple of chances from inside the 18-yard box in the first half.
Sunday’s premier matches are 12 noon between Impact 2 and Hearts United at ESA South Complex, 2 p.m. between Impact 3 and Sherwood Park Phoenix and 6 p.m. between Impact 1 and Victoria at ESA Complex.
Meanwhile, division 1A Impact 4 (Murphy) lost 2-0 Monday to FC Excelsior after tying the Edmonton Warriors 1-1 Saturday.
The next division 1A match is Monday against the Warriors at 7 p.m. at Coronation Park.
Storm power
The St. Albert Storm wrapped up one of their most successful midget spring league seasons in the Capital District Minor Football Association.The Storm finished 5-1 (178 PF/86 PA) as the top defensive team after toppling the Edmonton Mustangs 30-7 Saturday at Larry Olexiuk Field.
The Storm and North Edmonton Seahawks (5-1, 222 PF/129 PA) tied for second in the 10-team standings behind the Lloydminster Red Dogs (6-0, 194 PF/126 PA).
Lloydminster was also 6-0 in 2016.
The Storm’s only loss was 36-16 to Lloydminster in week three of the season.
The Storm pounded the ball early and hard against the Mustangs (1-5, 71 PF/171 PA) while rolling up leads of 14-0 after the first quarter, 17-0 at halftime and 24-0 after three quarters.
Big gains by Brett Yost set-up a two-yard trot over the goal line by Aidan Orr, an offensive guard who lined up in the backfield for the hand-off.
On the next drive, the Storm needed only one play to find the endzone as quarterback Ewan Vanderheide hit William Campbell and the Grade 9 Storm rookie pulled off a Randy Moss-esque catch-and-run for the major.
Cole Precht split the uprights by inches from 32 yards out in the second quarter after long runs by quarterback Zach Froese put the Storm in field goal range.
The second half was dominated by strong rookie performances on both sides of the ball.
Yost surpassed 100 yards in the third quarter and capped off the opening drive with a 15-yard TD.
Defensively, Luke Eady picked off his team-leading fifth pass.
After giving up a TD in the fourth quarter, the defence answered as Froese made a highlight-reel interception as a defensive back and returned the ball 65 yards to put the Storm first and goal. Tristan Olenick, a Grade 9 rookie, completed his TD pass of the Storm season as Jake Kikkert fought off a defender and high-pointed the ball into the endzone.
