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Storm showcases gridiron talent

The final auditions to play St. Albert Storm football will be staged at today's jamboree in Spruce Grove.

The final auditions to play St. Albert Storm football will be staged at today's jamboree in Spruce Grove.

"I can't wait to see the guys in live action finally," said Chad Hill, head coach of the midget spring league team of Grade 9, 10 and 11 players. "I'm really excited to see some of these Grade 9s that we don't know too well and see what they do when they're up against another team. A lot of them are going to really, really have a great day. It's going to be lots of learning too. We're telling them we're not too worried about mistakes at this point. We just want to see them play, have fun and show us what they can do."

In the tier I/II draw, the Storm lines up against the Parkland Outlaws at noon, Edmonton Mustangs at 1 p.m., Battle River Shock at 3 p.m. and Sherwood Park Wolverines at 4 p.m.

Two fields will be split in half to handle four controlled scrimmages. Play will begin on the 40-yard lines and each team gets 21 offensive plays, split into eight, eight and five plays respectively, per sequence. Blitzing is not allowed. After a touchdown or turnover (blown dead immediately), the ball returns to the 40. There will be officials on the field, but no stick crews or announcers. Admission is $5.

With 50 players in camp, Hill expects to make five cuts.

"The hope is to get the young guys in for lots of reps. It's going to be 84 plays in total, if all goes according to plan, so we want young guys taking at least 30 reps minimal," said the field general for the junior and senior Bellerose Bulldogs. "The goal for the coaches is to evaluate and then we'll sit down and figure out what we have for a roster."

There are limits to the maximum number of Grade 11s and the minimum number of required Grade 9s and 10s for each team.

The Storm will huddle up without some key veterans in the line-up because of spring break and Easter weekend commitments.

"Those are guys we know really well. They're good players and we know they're going to come through for us," Hill said. "It's nice to see some of these young guys get an opportunity to step in and we'll see what they can do."

Midget lid-lifter

Kieran Fraser, a returning Storm player from last year's tier III playoff championship team, is anxious to inflict pain on the enemy.

"I'm raring to go," declared the Grade 11 Bellerose linebacker. "I haven't hit people for a long time."

A nasty ankle injury last fall curtailed Fraser's high school season to only a couple of games.

"I'm very excited to play again. My whole season at Bellerose was pretty much ruined," said the Storm's defensive player of the game in the tier III final with three sacks in the 27-7 victory over the Wolverines. "It was a good game. I had a lot of fun."

Fraser, 17, expects the Storm will challenge for tier I honours after going 3-4 overall last year, with four losses in five games in the tier I regular season for relegation into the tier III/IV playoff bracket.

"We can probably do pretty well this year," said the promising five-foot-eight and 180-pound rugby player. "Last year I thought we would've done better than tier III. The first couple of games we were looking real good and then in that Wolverines game, the first one we played here in St. Albert [15-11 loss in the first ever game on the Riel Recreation Park's artificial field], we kind of lost focus but then we came back to win the tier III championship."

The Storm is made up of players from the junior and senior St. Albert High Skyhawks and Bellerose programs in the metro Edmonton league, plus graduating Grade 9 bantams.

"It's lots of fun being with all the guys. A lot of us played football together in bantam and then we went on to different schools but now that we're on the same team again it's pretty good," Fraser said.

Offensive threat

After several outdoor practices at Riel field, Hill is pleasantly surprised how the offence has manhandled the defence.

"The offence is further along than what I thought it would be right now. They're making the defence look bad in practice lately, which is not normally the way it is," Hill said. "You have to credit the good coaching they're getting as well. They've got the guys firing on all cylinders offensively."

Grade 11 quarterback Mike Spagnolo of the senior Skyhawks is double trouble running or passing the ball. His backups include Grade 11 Tayler White of the senior Bulldogs, who also doubles as a sure-handed slotback, and Grade 9 Dallas Moroz of the St. Albert Fury, the 2009 tier II bantam provincial finalists.

"Spagnolo to White looks like a great combination right now through the air. They're fun to watch. They've had some long bombs in practice against the D that have gone for touchdowns," said Hill, a noted defensive strategist in the coaching ranks. "We've also got [Spencer] Duff, [Devin] Kondro, [Grayson] Baker and [Nathan] Pytel in the backfield and they're all looking good. So are [Lewis] Biamonte, [Jared] Bailey and [Garrett] Meek on the O-line."

THIRD DOWN: The Storm kicks off their fifth season in the Capital District Minor Football Association next Saturday against the Mustangs. Game time is 5:30 p.m. at Clarke Park.

This year the league is fielding 11 teams — seven in the upper tier and four in the lower tier. Each team plays six games in the regular season and all but one will get at least one playoff game.

Adam Sturgess, a hulking Grade 10 lineman with the junior Skyhawks, and Grade 11 linebacker Jordan Schapansky, an impact player with the senior Bulldogs, are out indefinitely with injuries. Sturgess is sidelined with a broken thumb and Schapansky sprained his MCL.

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