The St. Albert Storm were their own worst enemy in the midget spring league tier II final Saturday at Johnny Bright Park.
The Storm were penalized at least nine times for unnecessary roughness in the 22-9 loss to the Parkland Predators. Grade 11 centre Zach Piercey was also punted from the game in the third quarter for a retaliation shot after a Parkland player was flagged for unnecessary roughness.
The lack of discipline by the Storm, especially in the second half, allowed Parkland to score 15 unanswered points.
At halftime the Storm led 9-7 on pair of wind-aided punt singles by Brandon Jennings and a 15-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Matteo Sestito to slotback Rocky Borrelli with 12 seconds left in the second quarter. Robert Blunden kicked the convert.
Parkland opened the scoring with a 12-yard TD with 78 seconds to go in the first quarter.
On their previous possession the Predators fumbled the ball away and Landon Wenger recovered it at the Storm nine.
In the third quarter the Predators jumped ahead with TD passes of 15 yards and three yards. In the fourth quarter they picked up a single point off a missed 31-yard field goal. A few plays earlier, an 87-yard TD run down the sideline by Parkland was nullified by penalties.
With 3:25 left in the game, Shannon Stuht fell on a Parkland fumble at the Storm 35. Sestito proceeded to march the Storm into Parkland territory on the strength of a 36-yard reception by Brendan Thera. However the drive was snuffed out by an interception at the Parkland 47 with 1:35 remaining.
Defensively the Storm had trouble stopping Parkland’s rushing attack, spearheaded by a big offensive line.
Nathan Mitchell was the Storm’s defensive player of the game with double-digit tackles from his safety position. The Grade 11 standout also chipped in with a couple of long returns on kickoffs and punt returns.
Sestito enjoyed success airing the ball out to Thera, Borrelli and Josh Wilkie as the offence moved the yardsticks at times but finished only one drive.
Blunden and Kyle Duperron also gained good chunks of yardage on the ground.
The loss was the third in a row for the Storm (1-3-1), the third-place finishers in the tier I/II division. Their only win was the come-from-behind 9-7 decision against fourth-place Parkland (2-3) last month in Spruce Grove.
Last year the Storm won the tier II final after earning tier III playoff honours in 2009.
The St. Albert clash between the senior B Miners and junior A Miners goes tonight at 8 p.m. at Performance Arena.
In the Rocky Mountain Lacrosse League the senior B Miners are 1-1. The defending provincial champions are coming off a 10-9 home floor victory over the junior A Edmonton Eclipse.
The junior A Miners are 1-3 after posting losses of 15-13 against the Calgary Mounties and 16-9 against the Okotoks Raiders in the junior A schedule last weekend in St. Albert.
Richard Thompson was the top scorer against Calgary with three goals and two assists. David Lehman added a pair and four assists.
Darren Kinnear’s hat-trick and two assists paced the attack against Okotoks. Ryan Davis and Lehman recorded four assists apiece.
The annual St. Albert Early Bird baseball tournament is up to bat this weekend at Legion Memorial Park and Meadowview Diamonds.
Forty teams are entered in mosquito AA (eight), peewee AA (six), peewee AAA (six), bantam AA (six), bantam AAA (six) and midget AA (eight).
Monday’s finals are 1 p.m. for bantam AAA, peewee AAA and peewee AA at Legion park and bantam AA and mosquito AA at Meadowview and 3 p.m. for midget AA at Legion park.
Visit www.stalbertbaseball.com for schedules.
Mark McQuaid scored the only goal of the match on a cross from Evan Gallant and Allister Latham-Rubic was solid in net as the St. Albert Impact 2 team edged Roots United 1-0 Saturday at the ESA Complex.
Cohen Cassidy was also an effective force up front while creating space for the Impact attackers.
The Impact improved to 2-1 in the division 1A standings in the Edmonton District Soccer Association.
Roots United played premier last year but was relegated into division one after posting a losing record.
The next Impact match is May 28 against Southwest United. Kickoff is 4 p.m. at Confederation Park.
