Robert Blunden’s 20-yard field goal capped off Thursday’s 9-7 comeback victory by the St. Albert Storm in midget spring league football.
The first of two picks by safety Nathan Mitchell set up Blunden’s game winning boot in the third quarter against the Parkland Predators (1-2) at Spruce Grove.
Parkland opened the scoring in the second quarter with a long touchdown pass.
Before the first half ended, Storm quarterback Matteo Sestito hooked up with wideout Brendan Thera for a big first down on third and five from just inside the Parkland 30. Nathan Pytel finished off the drive with a TD run. On the convert the Storm were called for illegal procedure. On the next attempt, Parkland blocked the kick.
Trailing by two points, Parkland staged a late rally with under three minutes to play in the fourth quarter but a 65-yard TD run was called back for holding. Parkland eventually made its way inside the Storm 30 but Mitchell intercepted a pass with nine seconds left to end the suspense. It was Parkland’s fourth turnover of the game against a tenacious Storm defence.
Parkland’s quarterback was knocked out of the game early in the fourth quarter on a clean hit by linebacker Ryan Shorten.
Adam Sturgess, a six-foot-four defensive end, also blocked his third punt in two games.
Offensively the Storm (1-0-1) unleashed a powerful running attack, spearheaded by Blunden, Pytel and Kyle Duperron with big chunks of yardage behind the blocking of linemen James Comeau, Zach Piercey and Garrett Meek.
The Storm’s home opener Tuesday was cancelled because the Edmonton Raiders dropped out of the tier 1/11 division.
The next game for the defending tier II champions is Saturday at 4 p.m. against the first-place Edmonton Mustangs (3-0) at Riel Park field.
