We are the Champions.
The St. Paul Bengals made history by defeating the Lacombe Raiders 27 – 9 to capture the Alberta Football Tier III Bantam Provincial Championship Saturday in St. Paul. This is the first provincial title in the 34-year history of St. Paul Football.
Approximately 500 parents, family members, volunteers and fans crowded the frosty sidelines and bleachers at Regional Field to witness local history being made.
“(Saturday) was a great day for us. It was a community win. The tremendous help we received from the town, the school division and the volunteers got the game field into great shape, allowing us coaches to focus on preparing the team and utilize our passing game, which opened up the offence in the second half. A huge, boistrous crowd sure showed that this game meant a lot to our community and area. Their support was so inspiring. The work put in by the community showed that true St Paul Spirit . . . It really seemed like the entire community was out there with us,” said Bengals’ head coach Todd Tanasichuk, as he reflected on the past week.
On Saturday, the Bengals started off quickly recovering an onside kick, then pounding the rock downfield to go up 7– 0 early in the game. Brett Halfe and Malcolm Steeves alternated strong runs and the St. Paul boys marched 55 yards, with Steeves rumbling 11 yards to open the scoring.
“We were able to spend the week being focused on the game plan instead of the game field, and it paid off from the opening kickoff. We saw on film an opportunity to take advantage of their alignment and attempted a short kick, which we were able to recover. That allowed us to march down the field and punch in the opening drive on a Malcolm Steeves run, which put them on their heels,” said Tanasichuk.
The Bengals kicked deep on the second kickoff and the hometown defense shut down the Raiders’ offense. “They were tough a really first class team. They put up a good fight,” said Steeves.
Early in the second quarter with a bit of signature St. Paul trickery, the local boys executed a quick kick on second down. Charlie Rogel recovered the punt inside the Lacombe 10-yard line.
Steeves then smashed his way into the end zone, but the single was blocked putting St Paul up 13 – 0.
“Early in the second quarter, we recovered a fumble at midfield. By then they had adjusted their defence to stop our running game by playing everyone up close to the line of scrimmage and so we called the quick kick, where four players are onside and can recover the punt. We were able to recover it deep in their end on a great play by Charlie Rogal. That set up Steeves’ second touchdown run of the day, putting us up 13-0,” elaborated Tanasichuk.
Lacombe’s defense then tightened up.
“They made good adjustments, but our line was just too much for them,” said Bengals’ player Ethan Boisclair. After exchanging short drives, the Bengals were pinned deep and a bad snap led to a turnover on downs at the St. Paul five-yard line. Lacombe’s Tanner Park ran a sweep to the left and brought the Raiders within a single score 13 – 7.
The Bengals responded with another good drive at the end of the second quarter when another quick kick occurred.
“It actually wasn’t a called play, but a miscommunication in our huddle. Even so, it looked like we executed the play well, but the referee determined our player wasn’t onside when the punt occurred, and that’s why we weren’t able to keep possession,” said Tanasichuk.
Later in the quarter, the Bengals were again close to scoring after a long pass from Boisclair to Tyler Foote, but the St. Paul boys ran out of time on the Raiders 30-yard line.
The score remained 13 – 7 until the middle of the third quarter. Things were looking dicey when St. Paul fumbled deep in the Lacombe end and the Raiders responded by moving the ball beyond midfield. It looked like a comeback was in the works until Odin Smith stripped the ball to end a strong drive by the Raiders.
“It was hard, they were a good team and fought hard,” said Smith.
St. Paul would go up 19 – 6 after a deep pass from Boisclair to Charlie Rogal.
“From film study, we knew we had some mismatches in their secondary that our receivers and passing game could take advantage of,” said the coach.
Boisclair called his own number on a quarterback sneak to put St. Paul up 19-7.
Adversity would strike as Lacombe responded with a solid drive of their own, one of the few they had against the Bengals’ defence, which has been St. Paul’s strength all year long. St. Paul was able to stop the Raiders on third down inside their own five-yard line.
The hometown boys were forced to give up a safety bringing the score to 19 – 9.
When the going got tough the Bengals again got going with Boisclair throwing a 70-yard touchdown pass to Damon Buffalo in the fourth quarter for the game-clinching touchdown with under five minutes remaining.
The score was made on a play the Bengals had tried twice earlier where Buffalo was open but just couldn’t connect. A two-point conversion would cement the final score at 27 – 9.
The Bengals were able to get all their players into the game so every Bengal could say they played in a provincial championship, and the last remaining seconds ticked off the clock to bring home the title.
“It’s pretty good. It’s the first time in 34 years that St. Paul has won a provincial final. (It) Feels pretty good to win with my boys. (We are) moving up to Lions next year and we’re going to do good there too. 2018 Tier IV (high school) champions is what we want,” said Steeves
Teammate Charlie Rogel echoed similar sentiments. “It feels really great to be a champion. Better than it has ever been before. It was hard. They were a good team, they fought hard. It only comes once and it doesn’t come easy,” said Rogel.
Incredibly, the St. Paul offensive line never gave up one quarterback sack all year and that continued Saturday.
“It’s pretty fun and I am excited, the whole team is excited. We were champions of the (Wheatland) league and now we are champions of Alberta. The game went pretty good but we could have played way better. We had high tackles and missed blocks . . . I’m really looking forward to playing high school ball next year,” Said Smith.
Lots of credit also goes to the offensive line coach Randall Krys. Defensively, the Bengals were their stellar selves.
“The defensive coaches Derek Zapisocki, Maurice Brousseau and Jeff Gratton have been incredible all year long and Saturday was no different. We were very well prepared for their offence. I felt our five linebackers were outstanding, Lane Peters, Halfe, Rogal, Buffalo and Boisclair as was Steeves at cornerback,” said Tanasichuk
The Bengals had three Grade 8 students play great games as well. Dorian Tomlinson started on defence and had to play offence as well after a second quarter injury to Wade Ledoux.
“Our offence didn’t skip a beat. He played very well. Austin Scrannage and Tyler Foote made big tackles on defence, as they have all season long,” said the coach.
The Raiders were a big powerful team with a dynamic running game. The team challenged St. Paul throughout the game.
“I feel our game preparation, passing game and overall heart were the difference in the end. For our program, being able to cap off a great season with a provincial title will hopefully encourage other kids and parents to give our sport an attempt. Combined with the lights for the field, we (St Paul Football) feel we are moving to making our program bigger and better in the immediate future, which will hopefully give more of our players the opportunity to play after high school in Canadian Junior or University,” said Tanasichuk.
The coaches at both levels could take a lot of the credit for this win, as well as volunteers like Roger Girard, who has worked tirelessly to help St. Paul Football despite it being 10 years since he had his son graduated from the program, and Lions Head Coach and Regional High School principal Mark Tichkowsky, who was out painting the field in -20C weather on Friday.
When asked about the future Tanasichuk said, “I will be returning as head coach of the Bengals next season and am honoured to be a part of such an uplifting community and dedicated group in St. Paul Football. The hope is all our graduating Bengals will move up with the Lions. They are indeed a special group and will be missed at the bantam level, but have the potential to do great things at the high school level. I look forward to watching their progression.”
In other Wheatland action all three high school programs advanced to the Provincial high school championships. Tier II Lloydminster Composite defeated Grande Prairie 38 – 14; Tier III Holy Rosary beat St. Albert 35 – 10; and Tier IV Cold Lake beat Stettler 28 – 22.
