Spirits rise up
The Sturgeon Spirits scored a touchdown as the inaugural winners of the metro Edmonton women’s flag football championship.
Last week’s 51-40 triumph against the Strathcona Lords in the final marked the 10th win without a loss for Sturgeon in the five-on-five league.
Visit StAlbertToday.ca for the team’s championship picture.
Games consisted of 18-minute halfs in the regular season and 25-minute halfs in the playoffs with straight running time. The majority were played at Airways Park and the playoffs were staged at Turf Training Centre.
Touchdowns are worth six points and then teams can try a one-point conversion from the five-yard line (no running) or two-point conversion from the 12-yard line (run or throw).
Sturgeon outscored its opponents 325-144 in the 13-team league that was split into two pools and on defence every player intercepted at least one pass and several were pick-sixes.
In the final, Grade 12 quarterback Haylee Sidor threw six TDs and was picked off once.
Last year’s team MVP finished the season with 42 TDs and six picks and none were returned for a TD.
Huge defensive stops by Taylor McGrath, plus offensive contributions by centre Sydney Smith, slot receiver Cheyanne Brown and running back Kellie Haffie, a soccer player who dominated the second half with some long runs, also contributed to the win.
The halftime score was 24-20.
Sturgeon also beat against Strathcona (9-2) in league play 24-12.
The semifinal scores were 50-12 Sturgeon against the Holy Trinity Trojans and 18-12 Strathcona against the St. Francis Xavier Rams.
The 12-player roster included Samantha Watts, Maria Arnold, Cara Stuermer, Chloe Wright, Olivia Mercier, Maddie Campbell and Hannah Thorn.
Nine of the players are returnees from last year's trial season for the sport as Sturgeon finished tied for first with the Rams.
“I’m incredibly proud of this group of young ladies as none of our girls had ever played football when we first started last season and to have the passion and determination this group showed throughout this year was incredible. You could tell they wanted to be the first ever flag football champions and no one would stop them,” said head coach Kerri Meadows. “We prepared all year as though we had a target on our back and we embraced that role. For only practicing once per week, this group did some pretty amazing things and I’m just so darn proud of them. It honestly couldn’t have happened to a better group of young women.”
Volleyball Blues
The Paul Kane Blues are one win away from advancing to the metro Edmonton division one senior men’s volleyball final.
Paul Kane (7-3, 24 GW/15 GL) enters today’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal as the visiting team against the Harry Ainlay Titans (10-0).
The winner plays the Strathcona Lords (8-2) or Archbishop Jordan Scots (7-3) in the Nov. 6 final at 7 p.m. at Strathcona.
In Monday's quarter-finals, Paul Kane spiked the host Edmonton Christian Lions (6-4) in a hard-fought 31-29, 25-21, 30-28, 25-20 affair while Ainlay swept the Jasper Place Rebels (2-8), last year’s champions and 4A provincial gold medallists.
Back-to-back losses against the Salisbury Sabres in St. Albert and ABJ in Sherwood Park to end the regular season dropped Paul Kane into a three-way tie for third place with the Lions and ABJ in the standings.
Paul Kane’s record includes the 25-20, 24-26, 15-25, 22-25 loss to Ainlay and 25-22, 29-27, 19-25, 24-26, 15-13 win over the Lions last month in St. Albert.
In the third Alberta Schools’ Athletic Association top-10 4A rankings of the season, Ainlsey is third, Strathcona is seventh, Paul Kane is eighth and Salisbury is 10th.
The Western Canada Redhawks of Calgary and Lindsay Thurber Raiders of Red Deer are first and second, respectively.
The 4A provincials are Nov. 21 to 23 at Jasper Place.
Paul Kane’s overall record is 26-10.
Cheer Canada gold
Athletes from St. Albert and Morinville shared in the gold-medal victory by Perfect Storm Athletics at the second annual ICU Pan American Cheerleading Championships in Costa Rica.
The Cheer Canada reps scored top marks from the judges in the junior four co-ed division as the first team from Canada to finish first overall in the event.
The 19-person Storm team included Ella Ashcroft, Eden Ashcroft, Madelyn Radchenko, Shailynn Rockey and Makayla White of St. Albert and Kennedi Knight, Lilyah Richardson and Kendall Weiss of Morinville.
The junior high and high school athletes competed against teams from Brazil, Chile, Equador, Mexico, United States and Costa Rica.
A number of the athletes were also on the Storm team at the 2018 junior championships.
In April, cheer clubs from across the country submitted a two-minute routine video for the judging committee to select the Cheer Canada rep for the Pan American championships and the Storm were among the final five contenders before the winner was announced in June.
