The following are the draws for the 2016 ASAA Alberta Bowl that is the Championship Final weekend for high school football in four different Tier’s of 12-Man Football and one level of 6-Man Football. The times and locations are included as well as the provincial ranking of the teams (as determined by Football Alberta) and contacts for each team involved.
As well, the Calgary Senior High School Athletic Association, which will be hosting the Alberta Bowl the following weekend has now put up their Website for the event. You can access it here.
(Courtesy: Football Alberta)
TIER I (School Pop. 1250+)
#3 St. Francis Browns vs. #1 Bev Facey Falcons
Sat., Nov. 26 – 6:00 p.m., Hellard Field at Shouldice Park (Calgary)
Well this is awkward. The current #1 ranked team in the Province vs. the team that held that designation at the beginning and for most of the season. The good news is that both teams now have a chance to solidify that claim on the field this Saturday. It will be interesting to see how both teams respond as they have taken very different paths to this point. The Falcons have cruised to this point. The only time they have trailed this season was during the first quarter in the North Final vs. Red Deer’s Notre Dame. And it wasn’t for long as they rang up a similar margin of victory as they have against all comers with no one coming within three TD’s of them by games end – including four teams ranked in the Top 10. The Browns on the other hand were cruising along at a similar pace until Oct. 21 when they were upset by the Henry Wise Wood Warriors 28-16. Since then they’ve been in dogfights, including last Saturday’s come from behind win over the Raymond Comets where they trailed 18-13 going into the fourth quarter before pulling it out 29-18.
Another interesting point in this game is fate of Chuba Hubbard. The star tailback for the Falcons, and future Oklahoma State Cowboy, now sits with 2,095 yards and 24 TD’s rushing on the season. This is amazing in itself, but despite all the success he is missing one thing on his resume – a Provincial Championship. Despite being an overwhelming force since Pee-Wee he has always run into a brick wall at Provincial Finals. In 2013 while a Pee-Wee, despite scoring 8 TD’s in the Provincial Final, his Sherwood Park Sabrecats still dropped the game 78-60 to the Calgary Cowboys. Two years later in a lower scoring affair, Chuba’s Sherwood Park Rams lost the Provincial Bantam Final to…(wait for it)…the bantam version of the Calgary Cowboys 25-16. Take a wild guess where most of those Calgary Cowboys wound up going to high school? Yes, Chuba has seen the names Joe Dutton, Jacob Izquiredo, etc. before, and while the Browns player’s shelves are dripping with Provincial Title gold medals, Chuba, and a lot of his team mates have a similar haul – but all silver thanks to the core of St. Francis’s players. Is this the year the Sherwood Park core finally breaks through the Cowboys/Browns wall, or will the traditional laden Browns powerhouse complete the sweep? We’ll find out Saturday.
TIER II (School Pop. 750-1249)
#2 Foothills Falcons at #1 St. Josephs Celtics
Fri. Nov. 25 – 7:00 p.m., Hellard Field at Shouldice Park (Calgary)
The feature game on Friday night at the Alberta Bowl will showcase a rematch from last year’s Tier II Title Game. Rematches are usually fun, but this one comes with a particular twist in that last year’s game wasn’t even close. 69-15 was the final tally last year as the Falcons’ scored early and often blowing the Celtics right off the field. The funny thing was that 2015 was supposed to be the high-water mark for both teams as they both graduated some generationally top level talent after that game and yet here they find themselves again facing each other in the Final again. That speaks volumes to the strength of the programs. The Celtics in recent years have always made it a practice of barn storming all over the province in search of games to sharpen their sword beyond the Mighty Peace League where everyone of their league opponents comes from a lower Tier. This has come a great cost and time as the one Achilles Heel that always haunts them is the distance they have to travel from remote Grande Prairie. Still, you can’t argue the results, with the Celtics making their third straight appearance in the Alberta Bowl, having won it all in 2014 and the game they’d sooner forget from 2015. A strong line on both sides of the ball anchored by Team Alberta standouts Austin Dunbar, Brennan Alde and Marshall Tunke may control things for them on Friday. Both of their Provincial games so far have been low scoring with tight wins over #5 Austin O’Brien and #7 Lloydminster to get to this point.
On the other side of the ball is another study in consistency. Since 2000, the Falcons have been the most prolific attendee in the Alberta Bowl from the South side of the draw with 2016 being their 8th trip winning five Championships along the way. Their travel log may not match the Celtics in distance but they too rely heavily on exhibition games as their Big Rock Schedule is only so long being a four-team league. Defence is the name of the game with the Falcons this year, with standout linebackers Keaton Goosen and Tyler Goings the primary reason they were able to overcome the tough #3 Medicine Hat Mohawks and #4 Hunting Hills Lightning on their way to the Big Dance. The opened the year with two losses but since then have reeled off nine straight wins and are looking to add trophy #6 to the trophy case in the hallways at Foothills this Friday.
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TIER III (School Pop. 450-749)
#1 Cochrane Cobras at #2 Holy Rosary Raiders
Sat. Nov. 26 – 2:30 p.m., Hellard Field at Shouldice Park (Calgary)
Death, taxes and a Provincial Final appearance by the Cochrane Cobras. Pretty much life’s guarantees. Well, almost when it comes to Cobras. Since the readjustment in Tier sizes in 1999 which firmly placed Cochrane in Tier III, the Cobras have been in this game 11 times, winning 9 of them. And it’s not just that they win the game, it’s the margins by which they do. When they win, they win big. Their average margin of victory in those 9 wins is almost five touchdowns (33.4) and that includes their only nail biter, a 7-5 win over Sylvan Lake in 2008.
Their opponent knows this only too well, having been the victim of just such an experience last year, as the Holy Rosary Raiders took it on the chin 55-0 at the hands of the Cobras in the 2015 Alberta. Undaunted they have risen to the challenge and have been more dominant than ever in the Wheatland League this year, going undefeated and winning their third straight league championship. As well, their average margin of victory in the post season (including League and Provincial playoffs) has been 36.8. If not now, when?
This game can also be looked at as the Battle of the Gun Slingers, as it features the only time both quarterbacks have come from the previous year’s Team Alberta. Cochrane’s Tae Gordon and Holy Rosary’s Tommy Yanchuck were the two QB’s on last summer’s Team Alberta that competed in the Football Canada Cup and finished 4th. Both are classic QB types with Yanchuk more in the mold of drop back specialist Tom Brady while Gordon’s scrambling and ability to extend plays brings back memories of Doug Flutie. More of the same for Cochrane this Saturday or will the Raiders erase last year’s memory and win their first Tier III title?
TIER IV (School Pop. 449 or less)
#6 Bow Valley Bobcats at #5 Stettler Wildcats
Sat. Nov. 26 – 11:00 a.m., Hellard Field at Shouldice Park (Calgary)
So much for rankings J. The wild a woolly world of Tier IV has produced a lot of contenders this year but when the smoke cleared this past Saturday the #5 and #6 teams are representing their Regions having both won upsets over higher ranked teams last week. Both programs are no stranger to this event but it has been a while. In 2002 and 2003 the Bow Valley Bobcats were a powerhouse winning two straight Tier IV Provincial Titles, but since that time a smattering of Provincial appearances and that’s it. Considering most of their current players were still in diapers at that time it probably doesn’t really register. Still, it’s been a great run this year to get back to the mountain top, going 9-2 so far and bursting out of the long shadow created by their crosstown rivals, the Cochrane Cobras. A balanced attack lead by QB Austin Javorski, RB Brad Hillier, and receiver Rylen Waugh has averaged just over 4 TD’s a game in beating the #2 ranked Willow Creek Cobras and #3 ranked W.R. Myers Rebels to get here so they are good to go.
On the other side are the Stettler Wildcats, who came late to the Tier IV party this year, after their school population numbers at the end of September confirmed they could drop down a Tier from their traditional Tier III where they had previously advanced to the Alberta Bowl twice in 2007 and 2011. That 2011 game saw a Bizzaroworld type game where the Wildcats hung a blowout on the Cochrane Cobras 55-14. This year’s squad hope to do the same to the Bobcats, with rookie
Grade 10 QB Carson Neitz, forced into action after a mid-season injury to Grade 12 starter Jordan Lane doing a masterful job distributing the ball to the leading rusher in the Rural Conference of the Central League, Teron Garbutt, and star receiver Alex Leblanc. Should be fun on Saturday morning.
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