Clarke Park – The Paul Kane Blues kicked off their first game ever in Metro Edmonton high school football with a humbling loss.
The 2010 Carr conference champion Salisbury Sabres rolled up 22 points in the first half en route to a convincing 36-1 decision.
“It’s disappointing because it’s the first game of the year. Hopefully this is a wake-up call,” said Grade 12 co-captain Nathan Mitchell after Thursday’s penalty-filled, marathon affair that was painful to watch. “It’s how we practice, right? We practice like crap and we come out and play like crap.”
The week before, the Blues throttled the Edmonton public league’s M.E. LaZerte Voyageurs 40-0 in exhibition action in St. Albert.
“We were on a high after that game but we understood that the big dogs were coming,” said Mitchell of the Sabres (3-0 overall), ranked second provincially in tier I. “We have Facey next week so it’s not going to get any easier for us.”
Game time against the number-one ranked Bev Facey Falcons (2-0 overall) is 5 p.m. Thursday at the Riel Park turf field.
“We’ve got to come together as a team, work hard in practice and show them what we’ve got in the game,” Mitchell said.
Offensively, the Blues looked disorganized against the Sabres and had trouble putting first downs together until late in the game. In the first half, the offence was flagged twice for time count violations. The punt team was also penalized for taking too long to snap the ball.
The team’s only point was soccer player Ideen Samodi’s single on the opening kickoff to start the second half.
The longest play from scrimmage by the Blues was Mitchell’s 43-yard reception from backup quarterback Felix Schmidt with 34 seconds left in the game.
“It was a struggle. Guys got frustrated and started pointing fingers,” Mitchell said.
In the first quarter, the Sabres rattled the Blues with a 28-yard touchdown catch in the end zone behind two defenders.
On the first play in the second quarter, the Sabres added their second TD on a 10-yard bootleg.
The Sabres also kicked a 16-yard field goal with 2:02 left in the half, then forced the Blues to give up a safety on third down with 51 seconds remaining and split the uprights from 19 yards out to end the half.
“We came out kind of slow,” Mitchell said. “They were a good team. They showed us that hard work gets you somewhere.”
Credit the defence for keeping the score respectable in the first half. Key plays on second downs made the Sabres settle for field goal attempts.
Down by 14 points, the Blues stopped the Sabres on third down by tripping up the quarterback at the Paul Kane 33. On the play before, Mitchell was denied an interception while grappling for the ball with the receiver.
“Defence sets the tone. As long as you come out and hit somebody every play, that’s all you can ask for,” said Mitchell, a two-way threat at slotback and safety.
In the fourth quarter, the Sabres rushed for TDs of three and 14 yards. The last score came with 48 seconds to go.
“At halftime, the coaches talked to us and really got on our [butts] about a couple of things and we came out and played a lot better,” said Mitchell, 17.
The St. Albert High Skyhawks’ co-rookie of the year award winner in 2010 gives the Blues a presence on both sides of the ball. He scored the first touchdown in Paul Kane history against LaZerte, a six-yard reception from quarterback Matteo Sestito. The silver medallist with Team Alberta at the U18 Football Canada Cup this year as a defensive halfback was arguably the best player on the St. Albert Storm midget spring league team.
“I’m just trying to help out the team and play the best that I can,” Mitchell said.
