The St. Albert Storm were on target to beat the Battle River Shock but missed the mark despite three shots at the game-tying points with time running out in the midget spring league opener.
Down by six with under six minutes remaining, drives from the Shock 43- and 53-yard lines and the Storm 51 ended with two turnovers on downs and the third interception by the visitors in the 22-16 loss on a cold and snowy Friday night at Riel Recreation Park.
"There was a lot of effort out there. We had a lot of Grade 9s in there and they showed a lot of grit," said Nick Cowan, a Grade 10 defensive end and punter. "We just didn't quite execute. We haven't had too many people out at practice and that's got to change."
Head coach Brian Clapp gave his players a round of applause.
"Nobody get down about this. You all should be proud of yourselves the way you played. You didn't quit. We could've easily won this thing," stressed Clapp during the post-game huddle. "This is probably one of the better teams so now you guys have got to gauge where we've got to be. We should've beat these guys and we could've beat these guys."
It took the Shock 5:35 minutes to march the opening kickoff into the endzone, capped off by a one-yard touchdown burst. The two-point conversion pass was unsuccessful.
A couple of third down conversions kept the drive alive. The big play was a pass and run to the Storm 10.
"They came out quick and fast in the beginning," Cowan said. "We were a little bit shaky on defence giving up the early touchdown but we dug in deep and came back and did better."
On the next kickoff, Tyler Moroz's 71-yard return put the Storm at the Shock 19, but a high snap over the head of quarterback Josh Dobbins on third down was recovered by the Shock at their 34.
In the second quarter, after a series of punts, Dobbins' bootleg on second and 10 pushed the Storm to the Shock 22. The Storm would later try a fake field goal from the 35 that was snuffed out.
With 2:27 left until halftime, the Storm handed the ball off to Greg Flemming three times during the four-play drive from the Shock 31 for their first TD. After a short pass completion to Nick Svenson to the four, a determined Flemming turned a loss in the backfield into six points with 1:22 before the break. The two-point conversion attempt was no good.
On the next series the Shock went two and out and on the punt were penalized and the Storm huddled up at the one-yard line. Flemming punched the ball over and Cowan caught the two-point conversion pass from Dobbins to make it 14-6 with 30 seconds remaining in the half.
Fleming finished the game with 40 yards on 12 carries.
Interceptions
In the third quarter, and the Storm slowly working their up field, the Shock ran back a Dobbins' interception 69 yards for a pick-six. The two-point conversion run tied it at 14 with 3:41 left in the quarter.
Back on offence, on first down at the Storm 38, Dobbins was picked off and a flag against the Shock on the play put the ball back near midfield for Battle River. A pass interference flag against the Storm moved the Shock to the 42. A couple of runs for first down led to a one-yard TD with 51 seconds before quarter time. The two-point conversion pass left the Storm trailing 22-14.
Early in the fourth quarter, Graeme Loerke recovered a fumble at the Shock 38, but the Storm failed to capitalize on the turnover and punted.
A rash of penalties pushed the Shock back towards their goal line and on third down conceded a safety in punt formation with 6:10 to play.
On the ensuing kickoff, a spirited return by Dalton MacDonald to the Shock 43 was frittered away with the Storm unable to gain a first down.
The Shock started working the clock, but were stopped on third down at their 53 with 2:14 remaining.
On third and eight, Dobbins dodged heavy pressure to get the pass away but the ball fell short of the target.
Another defensive stand led to a Shock punt, and with no yards assessed on the Battle River team the Storm took possession at their 51 with 47 seconds to go. On second and nine, a deep pass by Dobbins was intercepted and returned to the Shock 42 to end the suspense.
Dobbins completed seven out of 15 passes for only 27 yards.
The Storm's defence allowed 177 yards rushing on 36 carries and 59 yards passing on three completions on eight attempts.
Loerke was credited with two sacks and nine tackles, followed by Svenson with six tackles and five for Josh Coogan.
"We really tried to surround the ball and made sure we kept their offence inside the tackles," Cowan said.
The harsh weather made for less than ideal playing conditions.
"It was cold but fun. (The weather) really started to show when the ball started hitting the ground quite a bit," said Cowan, 15.
The second-year Storm player is confident the team of Grade 9, 10 and 11 players will improve on last year's 2-4 record as the Tier II playoff winners.
"I feel real good about this team and the players and coaches we have on it," said the recipient of the outstanding defensive player award on the 9-0 junior Bellerose Bulldogs, the first undefeated team at Bellerose after the St. Albert Storm era and winners of the first junior football championship in school history.
The next game in the Capital District Minor Football Association's Tier I and II division is Friday at the Riel turf field against an opponent to be determined. Kickoff is tentatively set for 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5 and children under 12 get in free.
