The first high school football game for the Sturgeon Spirits was a winner.
Saturday’s historic 26-0 exhibition against the Peace Wapiti Academy Titans of Grande Prairie at Larry Olexiuk Field set the stage for Sturgeon’s inaugural gridiron season in the metro Edmonton league.
“It was insane. A lot of fun,” said an overjoyed Nathan Brake, a Grade 12 two-way threat who scored two of the team's four touchdowns. “Everybody was going crazy in the locker room before the game. Everyone was so excited. It was amazing.”
It was game on for Sturgeon football when Cole Cameron planted his big toe into the pigskin on the opening kickoff.
“I was telling the boys all week we don’t get a second chance at this. This is our first game ever, pre-season or not. It’s the first game ever that we suit up to represent our school and the boys did a good job of it. A little bit of nerves at the beginning because they were so excited, but I’m going to sleep well tonight because this was fun,” said head coach Chad Hill, the 2016 and 2017 Metro Athletics Coach of the Year in the division one Carr conference with the Bellerose Bulldogs.
“We’ve got a solid group of boys and a solid group of volunteers at this program and we had a lot of representation from parents and the teachers and staff at the school today and that makes it a lot of fun out here,” Hill added. “Honestly, I’m walking away from this game very happy. I know we have a lot to work on, but we knew that going into the season. We’re going to look like a different team and we should be a whole lot better come October than we are in August and that’s the goal. If we can get better from now through to October, we give ourselves a chance to play in November and that’s really what it’s all about for us.”
The Bulldogs also have exhibitions lined up Saturday against the West Central Rebels of Rocky Mountain House at 2:30 p.m. at Larry Olexiuk Field and Sept. 5 against the Eastglen Blue Devils at 7:30 p.m. at Emerald Hills, plus the Sept 8 jamboree with the Whitecourt Cats, Father Mercredi Trappers of Fort McMurray and Charles Spencer Mavericks of Grande Prairie, from 2 to 5 p.m. in St. Albert.
The division three Gilfillan conference opener for Sturgeon is Sept. 13 against the Ardrossan Bisons at 7:30 p.m. at Larry Olexiuk Field.
Sturgeon will also huddle up against Eastglen, Holy Trinity Trojans, Beaumont Bandits and the defending champion Fort Saskatchewan Sting in league play.
“We are so pumped up. We can’t wait for the regular season,” Brake said. “To come out like this, a pre-season game, and win it like we did it’s great. It’s very encouraging.”
Hill was equally buoyed by Sturgeon’s performance.
“It’s been an irregular start to training camp with all the smoke in the air. We’ve had to have most of our practices indoors so I was a little concerned that we would look unpolished in a lot of areas especially on special teams, but the boys learned on the fly a lot. The special teams looked better as the game went on. Offence looked better in the second half than it did in the first half and credit to our boys on defence and the defensive coaches because they were playing hard right from the start,” said Hill of his lineup of 32 players from the more than 40 registered.
The first half ended with Sturgeon leading by six points.
“Offence we had to get the timing down a little bit. I give credit to our centre, Aiden Jones. He was starting to get the snap down a lot more crisper in the second half and the offence was able to flow a little bit better. Zach Froese and Nathan Brake also started taking control of the game, and they’re two veteran guys we’re counting on heavily this year,” Hill said.
Froese, a Grade 11 quarterback who can also punt, and the speedy Brake, who split time at slotback, outside linebacker, kick returner and quarterback, are among a strong core of former Bulldogs from Sturgeon Composite High School’s pipeline of talent that fed the Bellerose football program for a long time before the gridiron Spirits were established this year.
Froese, the 2017 junior team’s MVP at Bellerose who filled as a late-season QB injury replacement for the senior Bulldogs as the starter in two Tier I (1,250-plus students) provincial north games, completed TD passes to Brake in the first quarter and William Campbell in the third quarter before giving way to his backup in the last quarter and Sturgeon ahead by 18.
Froese was eight-for-19 passing for 101 yards, was picked off once and gained 76 yards running the ball six times.
Brake completed three out of four passes for 55 yards.
Dylan Young led all receivers with four grabs for 53 yards, Brake snagged three balls for 30 yards and Campbell had a 40-plus catch early in the first quarter called back because of one of the many Sturgeon penalties.
“We wanted to get Zach out of there because we had taken a couple of big hits,” Hill said. “We also didn’t have anybody so far rep second-string quarterback. Nathan Brake did it at our one-week spring camp so I give all the credit in the world to Nathan for getting in there and being able to move the ball as the quarterback. It was nice to see that at least we know we have another guy that can go in there if need be.”
Flag fest
Despite the 'glass is half-full' positivity for Sturgeon, the exhibition was a long, drawn-out affair with more flags than the first game of the season between two first-year peewee teams.“We have a lot of guys who haven’t played before so not a lot of experience,” Brake said of Sturgeon’s parade of penalties. “It’s something we have to improve on.”
Hill viewed the staggering number of flags as part of the process.
“At times the flags got frustrating but you know what? In a way it’s good for that learning curve. (The officials) weren’t really taking it easy with the flags, but our boys have to learn because when we’re playing for real, stuff gets called. For a lot of these boys it was their first exposure to a football game so we’re a brand new team but even some of our veterans were getting called on stuff that we have to clean up,” said the Sturgeon teacher. “I told them at halftime good teams play physical and hard without getting penalties. We can’t expect to win football games throughout the year if we take that kind of yardage. It felt like almost every time we had a big play we were coming back. We only had six points at the end of the first half but yet we at times moved the ball all right but we just shoot ourselves in the foot.
“Definitely for these guys it was a vital learning experience and a big thanks to Peace Wapiti for making the trip to play us. They’ve got great coaches, they’re a small school and they’re working hard so I think those boys got a lot out of this game as well.”
Peace Wapiti, last year’s Peace Bowl finalist in its first trip to the Mighty Peace league championship who lost the Tier III (450 to 749 students) north semifinal 25-9 to the St. Albert High Skyhawks in Grande Prairie, was also penalized numerous times and fumbled the ball away several times as Sturgeon recovered four miscues in the third quarter.
Addison Chaabane, a defensive lineman, recorded four tackles (three for losses) and one fumble recovery.
Carson Antoniuk, a linebacker, was credited with six tackles (one for loss) and recovered two fumbles.
Defensive back Kyle Phillips made six tackles (one for loss) and forced a fumble.
Reece Reaville also returned an interception for a short gain close to the Peace Wapiti 30 late in the game.
Brake’s first TD was a short reception to end the first quarter and Campbell's scoring play made it 12-0 with six minutes left in the third quarter.
Running back Colten Brenneis, a noted rugby player, displayed speed and strength with an outside romp into the end zone before quarter time.
Brenneis finished with 81 yards on the ground on six carries.
“We had a slow start but we really picked up things at the half and showed everyone what Sturgeon football is all about,” Brake said. “I really think we showed our defence is amazing. Our defence stuck in there and held them to zero points.”
Brake’s second TD was a designed QB run covering 26 yards and on the two-point conversion play found Chase Kobza in the end zone to close out the scoring with 6:58 remaining.
Brake’s rushing totals were 45 yards on seven carries.
“We had great blocks by all of our guys. All the guys really executed well. They opened up lanes and I just did my job,” said Brake, 17, the 2016 Outstanding Offensive Player Award recipient with the junior Bulldogs.
