A date with destiny is only one win away for the St. Albert High Skyhawks.
And the Tier III provincial contenders are not prepared to kiss it goodbye after losing last year's north final.
Saturday the Skyhawks line up against the St. Paul Lions with a berth at the Alberta Bowl at stake. Kickoff is 2:30 p.m. at Foote Field. Admission is $5.
"I like our opportunity," said a confident Sam Johnson, head coach of the 8-3 Skyhawks. "We've got that feeling that we're something special. We preach that team thing and the kids are believing in themselves and each other and you know what? Great things can happen when kids do that."
The winner will tackle the No. 2-ranked Cochrane Cobras (10-1) or the No. 8-ranked Sir Winston Churchill Bulldogs (3-5) of Lethbridge for provincial honours next Saturday in Edmonton.
"It's unreal where we're at right now. We're going to gear up and practice hard all week and just keep going," said Grade 12 running back Matti Thurlin.
Last weekend the Lions (9-1), ranked third as the Wheatland league champions, knocked off the No. 4-ranked Stettler Wildcats (8-1), last year's provincial winners, 31-14 in Stettler.
The Skyhawks are coming off a 49-28 rout of the No. 7-ranked Peace River Pioneers (6-5) in front of a sparse crowd on a cold and clear Saturday afternoon at Riel Recreation Park in the first provincial game ever staged in St. Albert.
Last year the Skyhawks made their Tier III debut and defeated the Pioneers 35-14 in Peace River before losing 21-14 to the Wildcats in Stettler.
"We're way past that loss, to be honest. We're a completely different squad. We have a lot of the same guys but we come with a new mindset and I think that's been working out for us a little bit," Thurlin said.
In the rematch with the Pioneers the Skyhawks rolled up leads of 14-7 after the first quarter, 21-7 at halftime and 35-14 after three quarters.
"Those of us returning were sort of familiar with how they played, so it didn't come as much of a surprise what they did, especially because they had an immensely different offence than what we normally see," said Thurlin.
The 16-year-old Skyhawk stressed the score wasn't as one-sided as the 21-point margin suggests.
"It was definitely a big battle in the cold, no doubt about it," Thurlin said. "It went back and forth quite a bit but ultimately we prevailed. It was just perseverance on our part because they played a hell of a game too."
Ground game
In stark contrast to the Skyhawks' pass-happy offensive attack in the previous week's 51-14 thrashing by the undefeated Bev Facey Falcons in the Carr conference final, the home team ran the ball at will with Thurlin, Nathan Pytel, quarterback Keith Zyla and slotback Brendan Thera-Plamondon gobbling up the yards while moving the sticks.
"Looking at the film, they gave us alleys to run the ball. We just basically tried to take what they gave us today and Matti Thurlin and Nathan Pytel ran the ball very well," Johnson said.
Thurlin, who is affectionately called Hoss by his teammates, credited the play calling by the coaches for putting the Skyhawks in position to pound the ball against a suspect run defence.
"We really exploited their weaknesses in the running game and then towards the latter half of the game when they started to adjust we adjusted again and kept going," said Thurlin, who also took a turn at slotback in the win.
It was basically smooth sailing for the Skyhawks after driving the opening kickoff to the Peace River 27, before turning the ball over on downs.
Jack Zubick set the tone defensively with a tackle in the backfield on the first play from scrimmage by the Pioneers.
The second time on offence, Zyla threaded the needle to Chandler Duff behind coverage in front of the posts for a 41-reception at the one-yard line. Zyla capped off the five-play, 54-yard drive with the first of his four TDs.
After the kickoff, on first down for the Pioneers at their 51, Rocky Borrelli picked off a pass and was tackled out of bounds at the 26.
After the interception, an 11-yard catch and run by Thera-Plamondon led to a five-yard TD by Zyla on third down.
The Mighty Peace league finalists answered with a 45-yard TD run with 1:45 left until quarter time.
In the second quarter both teams turned the ball over on downs on consecutive series in Peace River territory.
Later on in the quarter the Pioneers pushed the ball past the midfield stripe for only the second time before the Skyhawks stopped the drive on third and four at their 53.
First down runs of 13 yards by Thera-Plamondon, 12 yards by Zyla and 31 yards by Thera-Plamondon resulted in a one-yard TD by Zyla with 2:16 to play.
In the last minute before the break, a tipped ball that was almost picked off by the Skyhawks was reeled in by the Pioneers at the St. Albert 22, but that was as far the visitors got before turning the ball over on downs.
The second half started with a four-play TD drive by the Pioneers that ended with a seven-yard TD run.
The Skyhawks regrouped on offence and marched the ball 66 yards to pay dirt. First down runs by Zyla and Thera-Plamondon led to a 20-yard pass by Zyla under pressure to the sure-handed Thera-Plamondon to the Peace River 16.
On first down, Zyla rolled out to his left and put the pigskin up for grabs for an opportunistic Jasper Walter to pluck out of the air at the two before falling over the goal line.
With 3:24 left in the quarter, Thera-Plamondon lit up the Pioneers with a 48-yard TD on one of his trademark catch and run plays. A block by Borrelli after Thera-Plamondon snagged Zyla's pass in front of the 30-yard line sent the speedy receiver into the endzone. A 13-yard Duff reception put the wheels in motion for Thera-Plamondon to score the team's fifth TD.
In the fourth quarter the Skyhawks added TD runs of six yards by Zyla and three yards by Pytel, who showed signs of becoming a regular force in the backfield after missing most of the season with a lower body injury.
Max Chabot kicked all seven point-after attempts.
The Pioneers made the score look somewhat respectable with TDs of one yard with 7:38 remaining and 44 yards with 1:44 on the clock.
"Although they have some very good players they are a team that's got to chew up time to get to where they are going and we knew if our defence could hold them and we could put some points up early, which we did, we would be very successful," Johnson said "We have some talented kids on offence and we just went to work and did the job."
