The amazing St. Albert High Skyhawks are one win away from their first Alberta Bowl since 2012 after their latest comeback thriller in high school football.
The Skyhawks ride the tidal wave of momentum into the Tier III provincial (school population 450 to 749) north final Saturday in Lloydminster against the Holy Rosary Raiders following last weekend’s dramatic down-to-the-wire victory over the Peace River Pioneers.
Kickoff is 3 p.m. between the No. 7-ranked Skyhawks (6-4) and the No. 2-ranked Raiders (11-0).
“Everyone is just buzzing with excitement waiting for Saturday to head down to Lloydminster and hopefully we get another win,” said Bryan Breda, a Grade 12 playmaker at wideout, during Monday’s enthusiastic practice at St. Albert Catholic High School. “We’ve just got to keep playing the way we are right now.”
The winner will challenge the No. 1-ranked Cochrane Cobras (11-0), winners of two of the last three Alberta Bowls as the defending champions, or the No. 3-ranked Rundle College Cobras (7-1-1) of Calgary in the provincial final next Saturday at 11 a.m. at Foote Field.
“We’re really excited. We’re going to come out and compete. We’re going to play hard for each other,” said Sam Cuciz, a Grade 11 gunslinger at quarterback who also patrols the secondary at safety.
The Raiders, last year’s Tier IV (449 or less students) Alberta Bowl winners and two-time defending Wheatland Football League champions, shutout the No. 5-ranked Sylvan Lake Lakers (7-1) 34-0 in the north semifinals.
“It’s going to be a tough game against them. Hopefully we come out flying and come out scoring fast,” Breda said.
“Obviously, they’re going to be big competition but we’ve just got to play our game and stick to our game plan. If we do that we’re good to go,” Cuciz added.
The Skyhawks qualified for their third north final in five years as the metro Edmonton reps in the Tier III provincials with a heart-pounding 41-35 decision against the No. 9-ranked Pioneers (6-4) in Peace River.
The Skyhawks lost 21-14 to the hometown Stettler Wildcats in the bitter cold in their 2011 provincial debut and the next year whipped the St. Paul Lions 52-10 in Edmonton for a berth in the Alberta Bowl, only to lose 31-20 to Cochrane at Foote Field.
This year’s team of destiny pulled off its third late-game heroics in the last four contests as Brendan Gervais scored the winning touchdown with only seconds to play against the Pioneers.
“We’re never out of the fight. We all have that heart,” said Breda, while pounding his chest with a clenched fist. “People judge us based on our (school) size but we all have huge hearts. We’re willing to work for each other and put everything on the line every play regardless how much we’re down and to know that we can come back and win is just amazing. It’s just fate, I guess.
“We really have to be proud of what we’ve accomplished so far.”
The Miles division two finalists had a tough time against the Mighty Peace league semifinalists.
“We played a good team with big physical guys but we shot ourselves in the foot a lot. We had a lot of big mistakes leading up to their scores but the most important thing was coming out with the win and we did that,” said Cuciz, 16, who threw three TD passes and ran for another major.
Breda’s catch-and-run TD ended the first half with the score knotted at 21.
“I had to fight through three guys just to get that touchdown as the buzzer went,” said the elusive receiver.
With the season on the line the Skyhawks simply refused to lose.
“It was intense,” Breda said. “We were down 35-27 with like two minutes left. We got the touchdown and the two-point conversion with Anthony (Borrelli) and then our defence stepped up a lot and stopped them. We got a good return and then we scored again and then we held them down.”
Cuciz’s TD run from about the 20 and two-point conversion pass to Borrelli set the stage for Gervais to cap off the comeback on the next possession.
“To be honest with you the play before was really what sparked it. Bryan Breda caught about a 30-yard pass from Sam and once he caught that ball and ran it to the five we knew that with our heavy team we could run it in and I just happened to be the guy carrying it across the line,” said Gervais, 17, a modest Grade 12 running back and first-year football player. “Honestly, it was all 12 guys on offence. Every time we get a touchdown we know it’s because of all twelve guys and not just because of one. We don’t care about the personal stats, we just care about the team wins and at the end of the day we got it done.”
The Skyhawks embraced the moment with an emotional game-ending group hug.
“It was unreal. Everyone was ecstatic. When we heard that last buzzer we all just ran on to the field and piled on top of each other. It was so surreal,” said Breda, 17.
