After giving up 29 points in the first half to the powerhouse Bev Facey Falcons, the Bellerose Bulldogs played a scoreless second half in Thursday’s 29-0 loss in Sherwood Park.
“I’m very happy with the level of intensity and passion that we came out with in the second half,” said head coach Chad Hill. “But when all is said and done, we need to win. We’ll do that when we execute more consistently and when we play four quarters the way we played the second half. In the Carr conference we can’t have a bad half or even a bad quarter and expect to win the game.”
The 2009 tier I provincial finalists and three-time defending metro Edmonton league Carr champions scored two quick touchdowns before the Bulldogs settled down. A sack by Lewis Biamonte and a fumble recovery by Dillion Samms kept the Bulldogs (0-1-1) in the game until the Falcons (2-0) found the end zone two more times late in the first half.
“We were a bit tentative in the first half. Facey executes extremely well. They don’t give any plays. You have to take the play from them. There are very few mental mistakes on their part and little to no physical mistakes,” Hill said. “At halftime we were realistic. We said we have to go out and prove that we can play and compete with them. We had to put all the nerves aside and just go play football the way we are capable of playing and in the second half the boys started to believe that we can. We were clearly the more physical team, which is something we can build on.”
In the third quarter, quarterback Tayler White and running backs Devin Kondro and Grayson Baker made some plays during an impressive 80-yard drive that ended on third down and long at the Facey 20.
The Falcons played their starters until the 6:30 mark of the fourth quarter.
On defence, linebacker Cody Andresen was flying all around the field making tackles. Defensive back Adam Anderson also picked off a pass.
“We started looking like the physical, playmaking swarming D that I expected to see,” Hill said.
On tap next for the Bulldogs is the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (0-1). Thursday’s kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Park.
The St. Albert Hawks played a near flawless game Tuesday in metro Edmonton high school junior football.
“As a coaching staff we challenged the boys to complete a game of excellence for the duration of four quarters and overall they did very well. There were a few mistakes but the coaches were very proud of the effort and outcome,” said head coach Sean Brass of the 45-7 blowout of the St. Francis Xavier Rams at Johnny Bright Park. “We were much sharper this week [than last week’s 16-0 exhibition win over the Salisbury Sabres] and we will continue to push our theme of improvement throughout the season.”
Nathan Pytel led the charge offensively with a whopping 180 rushing yards. Quarterback Felix Schmidt spread the ball around to several receivers. Jake Svenson and Jake Lee also made major contributors on offence.
“The offence line was very strong and paved the way all game,” Brass said.
Among the defensive standouts were linebackers Sean Barton and Dale Hansen and linemen Brad Hoddinott, Jared Cordington and Tarren Luck.
“Sean played an incredible game leading the defensive charge while notching his first touchdown on an incredible punt return. I’m very proud of Sean. His development as a football player and a leader has been remarkable,” Brass said of Barton, a second-year Hawk who played defensive back for the 2009 premier finalists.
The next game for the Hawks is Tuesday’s exhibition against the Bev Facey Falcons from pool A. Kickoff is 5 p.m. at Riel Park field.
League play in pool B for the Hawks resumes Oct. 5 against the O’Leary Spartans (0-1). Game time is 5 p.m. at Riel Park.
The Bellerose Bulldogs scored early and often in Tuesday’s 36-7 rout of the O’Leary Spartans at Clarke Park.
The Bulldogs built up leads of 20-0 after the first quarter and 27-0 at halftime in the first pool B game of the season in metro Edmonton high school junior football. They also had two touchdowns called back.
The Spartans scored a fourth-quarter TD on a broken pitch play.
“Defensively, we started the game with three takeaways. The front seven played strong and were led by our leading tacklers [and linebackers], Brandon Moulds and Marc Waddingham,” said head coach Chad Hill. “Liam Gray was also a force on the defensive line. He came up with a blocked punt and recovery.”
Bulldogs rookie Jessy Morrow filled in for the injured Connor Blackburn at running back and rattled off several big gains and scored a TD.
A slotback sweep to Gray opened the scoring. Second-year junior Morgan Pocock-Demary also scored on a similar play.
Kyle Duperon racked up many tough yards between the tackles and scored a major. He was a favourite target for quarterback Dallas Moroz. He looked sharp with his passes and was dangerous scrambling and gaining first downs with his powerful legs. He finished with close to 150 yards passing and more than 50 on the ground.
The Bulldogs added a safety in the last quarter, when a Moroz punt wasn’t fielded cleanly by the returner and was forced back into his own end zone, where he was swarmed over by the Bulldogs.
Brandon Beyette was 4-for-5 kicking converts.
The next game is the Oct. 5 exhibition against the Austin O’Brien Crusaders from pool A. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Riel Park field.
“Overall, we are pleased with the results against O’Leary. However, there are areas we need to improve before we take on AOB,” Hill said.
This weekend the Bulldogs make their annual trek to the Whitecourt junior jamboree. They play Sexsmith, two Grande Prairie teams and the host Whitecourt Cats.
“It should be some excellent competition,” Hill said. “We told the players this jamboree is where starting positions can be earned.”
