It’s official: the Paul Kane Blues are genuine contenders instead of pretenders in high school football.
The coming out party for the Boys in Blue was Friday’s rivalry game against the consensus team to beat for the division two Miles championship and the 17-14 upset of the St. Albert High Skyhawks proved Paul Kane is the real deal.
“Our statement is we haven’t been very good for a few years and you need to relook at us this year and not take us for granted or look down on us because I believe we could go far,” said Brayden Morris, a disruptive force at defensive end for Paul Kane.
Last year’s non-playoff 3-3-1 record included the 29-0 loss to the Skyhawks, who are returning a boatload of players with a multitude of Grade 12s pulling the oars for the fifth-ranked Tier III (450 to 749 students) team in the province.
“It’s a huge victory for us. It’s massive,” said Aidan Purdon, who blew the doors off the Skyhawks with a roadrunner-like 74-yard touchdown romp and his conversion strengthened Paul Kane’s lead to 10 points with 5:36 left in the third quarter.
“We played with respect and determination,” Purdon added. “We wanted it bad after last year so we’ve been putting in a lot of work to make it happen.”
The victory was also the fifth in seven showdowns between the crosstown combatants – the two high schools were joined at the hip as one football team based at St. Albert Catholic High School before Paul Kane formed its own program in 2011 – and bragging rights in the city’s football community are immense.
“It meant a lot to our team and it meant the world to our coaches, especially coach (Rob) Strecker. He wanted this and I’m just happy we could give it to him,” Morris said.
Friends become foes for 48 intense minutes in the Battle of St. Albert.
“I played with a lot of the SACHS boys in bantam and they’re all great. I love every single one of them, but I love my team too,” Purdon said. “It was just the best game ever. It was just awesome.
“I loved every second of it.”
Credit the Skyhawks for not allowing the game to slip away while falling behind 10-0 before running out of time after Hunter Hoffman’s 16-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Justin Stoneham and conversion by Addison Ross made it a three-point spread with 32.2 seconds remaining.
The Skyhawks also recovered the on-side kick, but on the next play a flag nullified Hunter’s catch and run for a first down in front of the Skyhawks’ bench with 18.4 seconds left and Paul Kane stood its ground the rest of the way.
“We had some flashes of really good play, but honestly we’ve just got to work together as a team more and come back in the next game and hopefully beat the next team and everybody else who comes against us,” said Evan Selzler, a Grade 12 linebacker and left tackle who was a major contributor with last year’s 8-3 Skyhawks as playoff finalists in the Miles and Tier III provincial north qualifier.
“We plan on winning this championship in this league and we’re going to be working harder every day to do it,” Selzler said.
This year, the metro league formed two pools of teams in a joint division two Miles/division three Gilfillan conference and the top finishers in pool play advance to the Miles’ playoffs while the rest compete for the Gilfillan championship.
In the pool A opener, the Skyhawks crumpled the Beaumont Bandits, last year’s Gilfillan semifinalists, 65-0.
“We came in hot, almost too hot, and then I think we got burnt up before the game,” said Selzler, 17. “We almost made a comeback (late in the game), but that’s football. It’s life. We’ve just got to bounce back.
“It’s a learning experience. Sometimes you’ve got to lose to learn how to deal with it and then come back next game and kick some butt.”
Did Paul Kane surprise the Skyhawks?
“Sort of, but we watched a lot of film and we knew what was coming. They were just pretty good at repping their plays in practice and I bet they’ve been practicing those plays a lot,” Selzler said. “They outworked us today almost.”
The Skyhawks also missed the presence of injured standout Matt Swecera on both sides of the ball while Paul Kane persevered despite injuries to Cam Mah (wrist), a reliable two-way threat, early in the game and Marshall Missins (arm), a dominating lineman, for the entire second half.
Flags and turnovers
The big game started with a bang as Jackson Ganton of the Skyhawks picked off quarterback Jacob King on the first play from scrimmage.
The Skyhawks were unable to move the ball and a snafu on the punt attempt resulted in Paul Kane taking over the ball in scoring range at the 26 on Cam Mah’s tackle for loss of yardage.
After a punt single by King, on first down the Skyhawks fumbled the ball away at their 40 as Andrew Gargan recovered the turnover. Paul Kane proceeded to march the ball as King’s pass to Ty Bates for 13 yards and Purdon’s run of 12 yards moved the chains.
On third down, King was sacked by Ellijah Webonga, but a flag on the Skyhawks moved the ball to the 13 and on the repeat of third down King’s sideline pass to Roka Phalen-Baker put Paul Kane first and goal at the four.
Purdon eventually scored from the two and converted his own TD with 6:14 to go in the quarter.
In the last minute before quarter time, the Skyhawks gave up a safety in punt formation after the quarterback sack by Morris made it third down back at the 11.
The flags continued to fly in the lengthy penalty-riddled affair as Phalen-Baker’s TD on a punt return from midfield 1:27 into the second quarter was called back because of an infraction.
A flag also wiped out by a good return by Pahlen-Baker into Skyhawks' territory in the first quarter.
As the first half wound down, Stoneham was picked off in the endzone by King with 2:22 remaining and by William Mah with 9.4 ticks on the clock.
Slotted between the interceptions was Logan Lysohirka’s one-yard TD run and the conversion by Ross with 1:08 left until the break.
Leading up to the score was a 12-yard catch and run by Ganton to the one after Paul Kane was penalized 15 yards on the previous play.
"There were a lot of mistakes we did make in this game, but there were also a lot of good things we did too,” Morris said.
Play of the game
The TSN turning point was Purdon's game-breaking TD down the sideline with a trio of Skyhawks in hot pursuit.
“It was a perfect gap in the line. The linemen did a spectacular job. It was just pure adrenaline. It was awesome,” said Purdon, 16, a Grade 11 running back and linebacker. “It was a big thing. It was amazing. I couldn’t have been happier and I was happy for everyone else.”
The 17-7 advantage put Paul Kane in the driver’s seat the rest of the way.
“Aidan’s touchdown helped us out tremendously. It gave us a lot of motivation to keep going with everything we’ve got,” Morris said. “We gave up a little bit at the end, but we kept pushing and we tried running the clock down as much as we could.”
Paul Kane locked it down defensively despite some iffy moments after the Skyhawks made it a three-point game.
“We covered the zones and the places we need to cover,” Morris said. “Talking on defence was better than usual, but we could do better. Tackling could be better as well, but we had some pretty good tackles.”
After the successful on-side kick by the Skyhawks, Paul Kane overcame a penalty that nullified a pick by King on what should have been the last play of the game. Instead, the Skyhawks had another Hail Mary shot for points from their side of midfield, but with Nick Stec leading a wave of tacklers into the backfield it was game over with time expired.
“We were expecting a tough game from start to finish and that’s what we got,” said Morris, 16, a Grade 11 ringleader on the team’s defensive charge. “I can’t wait to play them again and see what happens.”
King finished 8-for-16 passing for 79 yards and Phalen-Baker was his main target with five catches for 44 yards.
The Skyhawks were led offensively by the running abilities of Stoneham and Lysohirka. Hunter was also effective carrying and catching the ball as Paul Kane did its best to limit the damage by Ganton, an explosive scoring threat at slotback.
Stoneham also showed some moxie guiding the offence after taking over from starter Ewan Vanderheide in the second quarter.
Tuesday the Skyhawks hosted the Strathcona Lords (0-1-1) and the score was unavailable at press time.
Friday the Skyhawks play the O’Leary Spartans (1-0-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Fuhr Sports Park.
The next game for Paul Kane is Friday against the McNally Tigers (0-1) at 5 p.m. at Emerald Hills Turf Field.
Paul Kane, unranked in Tier II (750 to 1,249 students), kicked off the season with the 28-7 win against the No. 7-ranked Tier III Sturgeon Spirits (1-1).
