The St. Albert High Skyhawks proved they can win without players from Paul Kane by beating their former teammates Thursday.
The 15-0 shutout marked the first high school football game in St. Albert history between the Skyhawks and the Paul Kane Blues in the metro Edmonton league’s Carr Conference. The last 13 years Paul Kane students played for the Skyhawks at St. Albert Catholic High School.
“This win means a lot to our team because this is the first year the teams have been separated,” said Keith Zyla, the Skyhawks’ highly-touted Grade 10 quarterback from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “I just came here but I know all about the rivalry so it feels pretty good to win.”
The love-hate relationship with Paul Kane lacked the bad blood from the legendary Battle of St. Albert clashes between the Skyhawks and Bellerose Bulldogs.
“It was a good, hard-fought battle against the boys from PK. The rivalry with them is like we’re almost playing against our brothers. It brings out the best in all of us, especially our team,” said Nathan Pytel, a Grade 11 firecracker in the Skyhawks’ backfield. “The intensity between us is pure competition. It’s not so much like we’re going to fight as hard as we can because we hate you, we’re going to fight as hard as we can because we love you guys.”
The heat was on the Skyhawks to win the St. Albert showdown after they let the lead slip away against the Bulldogs (2-4) in last month’s 13-10 loss.
“It was a lot more personal for this game. [The Skyhawks and Paul Kane] were together before so there was a lot more hype,” said Zyla, 15, the backup quarterback last year with the Cooper City Cowboys in Florida.
When asked if Thursday’s triumph was the biggest in Skyhawks’ history, head coach Sam Johnson replied: “No. It was when we beat Sal (44-20) in the 2000 Carr championship game. Honestly,” he said with a straight face. “We told our guys all week to look at this as another game. It’s big for the boys. It’s big for the city. For us though it really truly was just another game.”
In the first quarter, and the Blues looking at second and 10 at the Paul Kane 52, a huge hit by linebacker Brad Hoddinott separated Paul Kane quarterback Matteo Sestito from the ball. Defensive end Tarren Luck scooped it up in front of the Skyhawks’ bench and trotted into the end zone. Danton Tait-Vanderheide’s convert was good.
“That touchdown was a huge momentum builder. It really pumped up the confidence in our boys. You could see on the sidelines the emotion on everyone’s face and how hard they wanted to win this game,” said Pytel, 16.
On the last three Paul Kane possessions before halftime, the Blues missed the uprights on field goal attempts from 42 and 47 yards by Ideen Samodi, and with 25 seconds remaining they failed to convert a third and one gamble at the Skyhawks’ 38 on a pass play.
In the third quarter, Tait-Vanderheide’s 27-yard field attempt hit the post after the Skyhawks marched the ball into scoring range from the Paul Kane 51. He also had a 24-yard field goal attempt blocked with seconds left in the game.
On the last play in the third quarter, Riley Morin tackled backup quarterback Felix Schmidt from behind on third and two to give the Skyhawks the ball at the Paul Kane 35. A few plays later, on third and goal from the one, the Skyhawks fumbled the ball into the end zone and the Blues recovered.
After the turnover the Blues took possession at their 20, but on first down Sestito was rocked by Hoddinott while throwing off-balance near the sideline. Zyla, who also plays safety, picked the ball off at the Paul Kane 34. After a few penalties against the Skyhawks, Zyla teamed up with Pytel for a game-breaking 44-yard TD catch and run with 4:38 to play.
“I didn’t think I was going to get into the end zone when I caught it,” Pytel said. “I looked outside and it was just me and [Brandon] Best. I fed him every bit of my right hand and he went down and I just kept on going.”
On the next Paul Kane possession, Tyler Demers sacked Sestito at the two and on third down the Blues gave up a safety.
Sestito was constantly harassed by the blitzing Skyhawks throughout the match and was sacked several times. Other than a few bursts up the gut by Jake Svenson, the Blues did very little on offence.
“Our defence was definitely very hard nosed. They played unreal,” Pytel said.
The sixth-ranked tier III team in Alberta improved 2-3 in league play after its biggest win of the year.
“If you look at things rationally we should be 4-1. We should’ve beat Bellerose. We should’ve beat Sal [last week but lost 16-14],” Johnson said. “We should be a 4-1 team challenging for first or second in the Carr, but now we’re going to be a four or five team in the playoff seeding.”
Losing to the Salisbury Sabres (3-0-1) in St. Albert was a heartbreaker. The defending Carr champions, ranked fourth provincially in tier I, scored the winning touchdown with 25 seconds to play after recovering a fumble at the Skyhawks’ 25 with 53 seconds left.
“We played our hearts out against Sal. Nobody gave us a snowball’s chance in heck and our boys stood up and played hard,” Johnson said.
Meanwhile, Thursday’s loss eliminated the winless Blues from playoff contention. Their last game is Thursday against the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (3-0-1), the top-ranked tier II team in the province. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Johnny Bright Park.
The last game for the Skyhawks before the Oct. 25 opening playoff round is Thursday against the third-ranked tier I Bev Facey Falcons (3-0-2) at 7:30 p.m. in Sherwood Park.
“Even though we played good today, we have way more left in the tank,” Pytel said. “Our momentum is building and with every win our confidence is getting better.”
