A second-half rally was too little, too late for the St. Albert Storm in Saturday's loss to the West Edmonton Raiders in the Capital District Minor Football Association.
The team of Grade 9, 10 and 11 players were unable to catch up to the West Edmonton Raiders after falling behind in the midget spring league game at Fuhr Sports Park.
The 30-20 result marked the Storm's first defeat after winning their season opener 43-16 against the Fort McMurray Ravens in Spruce Grove.
Logan McCullough was the Storm's offensive game star for the second game in a row with two touchdowns after catching two TD passes and running for two majors against the Ravens.
Last year's senior team player for the Carr division one Bellerose Bulldogs in the metro Edmonton league rushed for one TD and was on the receiving end of a TD strike from Cordel Callioux.
McCullough also led the Storm in receiving yards against the Raiders.
Ben VanLeeuwen was a force in all three phases of the game and rumbled five yards into the endzone for a TD.
Callioux and Travis Heggart were also a pair of workhorses for the Storm.
Callioux played all but a couple of series at quarterback and saw action at defensive back in the second half.
Heggart split time at slotback and defensive end while racking up some big tackles and scored a two-point conversion.
Marc LeBlanc, a Grade 9 player, also picked off a pass.
The Raiders (1-1) were led by Russell Dixon, a valuable Grade 10 quarterback for the 2016 junior Paul Kane Blues and Team Alberta U16 player at the 2017 International Bowl VIII in Arlington, Texas.
The Storm's next game is April 13 against the Parkland Predators (2-0) at 5:30 p.m. in Spruce Grove.
St. Albert golfer Barrett Belland was recognized as the men's athlete of the year at the recent MacEwan University Griffin's annual awards banquet.
Belland is the first golfer in MacEwan program history to sweep every Alberta Colleges' Athletic Conference event of the season – south regional, north regional and provincials.
The fifth-year graduating student-athlete was also named the ACAC player of the year and earned Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association All-Canadian honours.
At the CCAA nationals in October, Belland tied for 38th out of 78 competitors with rounds of 76-81-74 at the Fox Meadow Golf Club in Charlottetown, P.E.I., to finish 20 shots behind the winner, Josiah Dixon (67-69-75) of the Niagara College Knights.
The MacEwan awards' night also saluted the most outstanding (MOP) and most improved (MIP) players on each of the Griffins' teams.
The St. Albert recipients included Belland (MOP) and Noah Lubberding (MIP) in men's golf, Kendall Lydon (MOP) in women's basketball and Thomas Laxdal (MIP) in men's basketball.
