Losing the Battle of St. Albert is not part of the game plan for the St. Albert High Skyhawks.
Starting with the inaugural 1999 showdown with the Bellerose Bulldogs, the Skyhawks dominated their football foes with convincing triumphs of 42-8, 42-22, 42-0, 60-0, 39-3, 17-2 and 38-0 in the last dust-up in 2007.
“There is pressure for us to win. The rivalry is huge,” said co-captain Nathan Winchester, prior to Monday’s practice. “It’s more nerve racking going into this game than our other games. The practices are more intense. You can really feel the pressure.”
Thursday’s kick-off is 6 p.m. at Riel Park field. Gate admission is $5.
“There is going to be a lot of excitement in the stadium,” said Garret Doll, the Skyhawks’ defensive co-ordinator. “Of course our guys are going to be excited and hyped up about this but they have to treat this as a regular game otherwise you get too worked up over it. Our sequence of what we’re doing and our preparation is not going to change this week because we’re playing Bellerose.”
Massive bragging rights are at stake in the metro Edmonton league’s Carr conference between the Skyhawks (players from St. Albert and Paul Kane high schools) and Bulldogs (players from Bellerose and Sturgeon high schools).
“We know guys on their team so it should be fun,” said Winchester, 16. “It’s going to be a good game, especially with the rivalry.”
The Skyhawks are the team to beat but Doll expects the Bulldogs are going to use every trick in their playbook in order to pull off the upset of the century.
“We know that they will be making some plays and it’s how we respond to that,” said Doll, the co-principal at St. Albert Catholic High School. “Devin Kondro [Grade 12 fullback who was the senior Bulldogs’ MVP the last two years] is an impact player. We have to make sure that we’re able to stop him. You know that he is going to be making big plays. He’s a heck of an athlete so you can’t get worked up or frustrated when he does make a big play.
“I’ve always told my guys it’s more fun playing against the real good players than against mediocre or average players, so have fun with it because Kondro is a good player.”
The Bulldogs will be up against arguably the best defence in Skyhawks’ history. They are averaging 11 points against while compiling a 3-1 overall record. The Bulldogs, on the other hand, have scored only two touchdowns and kicked three field goals while going 1-1-1 in the Carr.
“The strength of our defence is that the players trust each other to do their job and then they can do theirs 100 per cent. Whenever someone tries to do more than what they are supposed to then that’s when openings and gaps occur. If you believe in your teammate you don’t then try to step in where they’re supposed to be making the tackle or making the play and that’s a huge part,” said Doll, a former Alberta Golden Bear who played some CFL games with the Calgary Stampeders. “The other thing is they’re good athletes. They work hard for me. They work hard for each other. They’re also very physical.
“Bellerose also has a strong defence too.”
Historically, the Skyhawks have lacked discipline on defence as one of the most penalized teams in the league. It caught up to them last month in the flag-filled 18-11 win against the Archbishop Jordan Scots. The ejection of Grade 12 middle linebacker Tanner Doll, considered one of the top defensive players in the league, and subsequent one-game suspension by the metro league left the Skyhawks’ coaching staff fuming. According to several versions of the event that led to the 25-yard major foul infraction and Doll’s expulsion from the field 30 seconds into the second quarter, the hyper-aggressive Skyhawk “tickled the stomach” of one of his buddies who was on the ground in the aftermath of a punt return by the Scots.
“The referee thought he saw something different,” said coach Doll, who noted the Skyhawks and Scots submitted identical reports to the league detailing the incident that wasn’t near as bad as the penalty warranted.
Because the league doesn’t view game film in its decision-making process, the suspension stood and coach Doll’s son will sit out the most anticipated football game to ever take place in St. Albert.
“It’s opportunities for others now to step up,” he said.
After the dust settled, the Skyhawks were penalized twice for horsecollar tackles and the bench was also flagged for objectionable conduct. They survived the parade of penalties, and some iffy officiating, with impressive play on both sides of the ball en route to going 2-0 in the conference.
“It’s been going real good so far for us this season. Hopefully in the future it will get even better,” Winchester, a husky six-foot-four, 260-pound two-way lineman at defensive tackle and offensive guard.
The Grade 12 St. Albert high student sees nothing but positives with his team on the eve of the big game.
“We have a lot of athletic guys,” he said. “We can score points. We’ve got a good passing game. Our special teams are pretty good too. On defence, communication is pretty much the key component to our success.”
THIRD DOWN: Last week the Skyhawks lost 51-0 to the Lutheran Lancers of Orange County, Calif. They were able to compete against the second-stringers but not the starting line-up.
