The St. Albert Storm ended their midget spring football season on a winning note Wednesday with a 34-14 win over Millwoods Grizzlies in the Tier II playoff final at the Riel Park turf field.
It was the second victory in six games for the Storm who also beat the Grizzlies 35-7 in the team’s second game in the Tier I and II division schedule.
“It feels good to win our last game,” said slotback Brendan Thera-Plamondon. “It was a pretty good game. We executed very well.”
The Storm finished 1-4 in the four-team, double round robin and their last game before the playoffs against Millwoods was cancelled. They averaged 17 points per game and 28 against.
“The season was a little rough. We went against some good teams, but to get the Tier II championship makes it a good year,” Thera-Plamondon said.
The Storm roster featured Grade 9, 10 and 11 players from the Bellerose Bulldogs, Paul Kane Blues, St. Albert High Skyhawks, Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds and the St. Albert Minor Football Association bantam program.
“We’re different teams put together on this one team so it’s kind of hard to get the chemistry going,” said Thera-Plamondon, an offensive catalyst for the Skyhawks. “It’s a lot different than our regular season play. You’re a family but you’re not as close as you would be with your regular team. It’s still good to get to know all the guys before you play them.”
In the first quarter, a three-yard touchdown run capped off a long Millwoods drive highlighted by two big pass completions. The two-point conversion pass was successful.
In the second quarter, after the Storm turned over the ball on downs, Jay Stoneham recovered a fumble at the Millwoods’ 49. On the next play, Thera-Plamondon broke away from a defender to haul in a 49-yard TD strike from quarterback Keith Zyla.
“Their guy went for the ball instead of me. I just caught it and ran into the end zone,” Thera-Plamondon said.
His highlight-reel TD catch on the next offensive series put the Storm ahead to stay. The 32-yard reception was his fourth receiving TD and fifth major of the season. In six games he registered eight catches for 238 yards.
“It was a nice throw by Keith, my SACHS quarterback. I just dove into the end zone and caught it.”
The first half ended with Zyla teaming up with another Skyhawks’ receiver, Rocky Borrelli, for a 43-yard TD.
The only scoring in the third quarter was an 11-yard TD reception by Millwoods.
In the last quarter, Nick Cowan recovered a blocked punt and returned it a short distance to the Millwoods’ 30. On second down and nine, quarterback Dallas Moroz hit Grade 9 speedster Seth Waselenchuk for six points.
An interception by Zyla at the Millwoods’ 46 led to a seven-yard TD pass from Moroz to Borrelli with 66 seconds to play. It was Borrelli’s team-leading fifth TD catch. He was the Storm’s top receiver this season with 19 receptions for 300 yards. In the final he caught six passes for 98 yards.
“All we wanted to do today was put more touchdowns on the board than the other team and we did that,” Thera-Plamondon said. “We also needed to stop their number 34 on the run and we did a pretty good job of that too.”
Thera-Plamondon, 17, finished the game with four catches for 113 yards. He also gained 29 yards on five carries for a season total of 172 yards on 20 carries.
He also recovered a well-executed onside kick on the first play in the fourth quarter.
“I had a lot of fun today. I can’t wait for the SACHS season to start.”
THIRD DOWN: Moroz was 11-for-15 passing for 141 yards and Zyla went six-for-eight for 127 yards.
Overall this season Moroz was 29-for-56 for 347 yards and five TDs. He was picked off four times and sacked 11 times. Zyla finished 13-for-25 for 304 yards and five TDs in three games.
Greg Flemming was the leading rusher against Millwoods with 52 yards on 13 carries.
Cowan converted four TDs and had one kick blocked.
Ryan Shorten led the defence with nine tackles and John Brouse had six.
Shorten was credited with 44 tackles in only five games. Graeme Loerke recorded 17 tackles and two sacks in six games.
Shorten and Dean Ciampanelli shared the team lead in sacks with three apiece.
