Clarke Park – The football season kicks off Saturday in Peace River for the St. Albert High Skyhawks after their dress rehearsal as Miles division two finalists.
The winner of the Tier III (school population 450 to 749 students) provincial north semifinal between the No. 7-ranked Skyhawks (5-4) and the No. 9-ranked Peace River Pioneers (6-3) will travel to play the No. 2-ranked Holy Rosary Raiders (10-0) of Lloydminster or the No. 5-ranked Sylvan Lake Lakers (7-1) in the Nov. 21 final.
The Alberta Bowl championship is Nov. 28 at Foote Field.
“It’s a new season for us. It’s a new start,” said Anthony Borelli, a Grade 12 slotback/cornerback, after the 25-8 loss to the McNally Tigers for the Miles championship Saturday. “We have a lot of courage going into provincials where teams are our school size and this game gives us a lot of experience.”
The Skyhawks were winners of four straight, including two mammoth come-from-behind playoff decisions to pull victory from the jaws of defeat, before McNally (8-0) rained on their parade.
“We’ve finally come together as a team. Late in the season we started to peak and we’re just amped to go into the provincial playoffs working together and meshing like a team should,” Borrelli said.
This is the fourth year the Skyhawks will represent the metro Edmonton league in the Tier III provincials since 2011, when the Paul Kane Blues established their own football program instead of serving as a feeder school for the St. Albert Catholic High School football team.
Last year in the north semifinals the Skyhawks were humbled 52-7 by the Whitecourt Cats in the snow at Clarke Park.
This year’s Skyhawks have high hopes of following in the steps of the 2012 team that reached the Alberta Bowl, only to lose 31-20 to the Cochrane Cobras at Foote Field.
“We’ve been getting better every week and we hope that continues for three more games,” head coach Sam Johnson told the Gazette, before rattling the dressing room concrete walls with an ear-splitting motivational speech after the McNally loss that would make Knute Rockne proud.
“We’re a small school but you don’t have to look far to find us,” Johnson continued. “We play good, sound football. We have great coaches and we teach the kids the fundamentals of the game and we do the things that need to be done right at this program.
The last two times the Skyhawks lined up against the Pioneers in the north semifinals they were victorious 35-14 in 2011 at Peace River and 49-21 in 2012 at St. Albert.
The Pioneers haven’t played since Oct. 31 after losing the Mighty Peace league semifinal 29-6 to the Sexsmith Sabres (7-2), a No. 1-ranked Tier IV (449 or less students) team.
“We’re going to have to be ready for another physical game like we just played,” Johnson said. “They’re a big team. They’ve got some big farm boys from up in that area and they run a double tight full house backfield type deal.
“We’re going to refocus and get after it. We’ll prepare for Peace River and we’ll head up there and try and give them a game.”
The Miles final was the third playoff showdown in 12 days for the Skyhawks.
“It’s a heck of a lot of football. The boys have worked hard and now we’re on to the real season for us,” Johnson said. “Any time you can coach a team that gets to a final it’s a feather in the cap not so much to the coaching staff but of the boys that are in this program. They always believe in what we’re doing and I’m proud of them for that.”
The 2014 Miles’ finalists tacked up 25 unanswered points after trailing 6-0 to start the second quarter before conceding a safety in punt formation with 45 seconds to play.
It was 10-6 at halftime and 25-6 after three quarters.
“They just have a lot of weapons. They’re a great team and well coached,” Johnson said of the McNally squad that blanked the Skyhawks 35-0 in the rain and wind Oct. 2 in St. Albert. “Our boys gave it a fighting effort but we knew we would need some breaks and play some error-free football.”
The only Tier III team in the Miles opened the scoring against McNally, ranked sixth in Tier II (750 to 1,249 students), with Brendan Gervais’ one-yard touchdown burst with 2:34 left in the first quarter. The convert was blocked. On the play before, on second and five at the McNally 25, quarterback Sam Cuciz was picked off but the ball was fumbled by the Tigers and Gervais returned it for a short gain to the one.
In the second quarter McNally kicked a 16-yard field goal before taking the lead with a 13-yard quarterback run to pay dirt.
In the second half the Skyhawks gave up a safety in punt formation with 3:56 left in the third quarter and McNally struck for a 20-yard quarterback TD run on third and two and it was converted with 1:21 to go before quarter time.
McNally would later pick off Cuciz at the Skyhawks’ 45 and the Tigers were quick to capitalize with a 20-yard TD pass to end the quarter.
“Our first half we played great. Defence was really strong. Our biggest threat was that No. 2 (Conner Mickel, the Haliburton Trophy winner as the MVP in the Miles) and we thought we contained him good,” Borrelli said. “We felt we were competing with the best team in the league so we’re proud of that.”
Borrelli, 17, was the Skyhawks’ nominee for the Haliburton Trophy.
“It’s a great honour. It humbled me a little bit but it’s the whole team that supports me, which allows me to get the name out there. It’s really not a one-man job,” said the third-leading receiver in the Miles with 187 yards on 13 catches.
