Chuck Taylor
Journal Contributor
It was a beautiful sunny November day a few degrees over the freezing point at Emerald Hills stadium in Sherwood Park when the St. Paul Lions defeated the Ardrossan Bisons 19 – 14 to defend the Football Alberta Tier IV North Championship, Nov. 16.
St. Paul now moves forward to face the Willow Creek Cobras Nov. 23 in Raymond for the Alberta Bowl title. The orange clad Lions took the field against the Bisons (6 – 2), the darlings of the Edmonton Metro League, who play in the 2nd 'Carr' Division.
Ardrossan and did quite well this year before being knocked out of the metro league playoffs by the Paul Kane Blues. The team beat Stettler by a whisker (25 - 23) to advance to the north championship.
St. Paul beat the Sexsmith Sabres 30 – 12 on Nov. 9, on the frozen tundra of Regional
Field to make it to the Nov. 16 game.
“They were a tough team. They have a good quarterback, slotback and a slippery running back. They weren't the biggest team in the province but they came to play,” said Lions head coach Mark Tichkowsky.
Upon arrival in Sherwood Park, Lions' captain and quarterback Adam Berlinguette called a pregame
players meeting and the St. Paul boys came out of it focused and ready to devour the Bisons. The Lions
offensive line took control of the line of scrimmage from the opening whistle and took to the
ground in the signature bruising St. Paul fashion.
The Lions' opening drive was cut off after a couple first downs then the defence shut down Ardrossan two and out. On the following drive Berlinguette handed off to Braden Paziuk, Dave Campeau and Ty Smereka driving 50 yards on six runs and onen pass before Smereka carried the ball in from the nine-yard line to open the scoring.
The two-point conversion was unsuccessful and the Lions led 6 – 0 midway through the first quarter. Sexsmith made some headway on the next drive before being shut down by a combination of the St. Paul pass rush and excellent play by the defensive backs. The Lions would return the punt to their own 23-yard line where Berlinguette tossed a feather soft pass to Kyler Tichkowsky for a 30-yard gain.
St. Paul went back to the ground and drove 57 more yards on the ground, chewing up the clock, when Paziuk made a seven-yard scamper to put St. Paul up two scores. The Bisons would put together a decent drive with their quarterback Joseph Funk scrambling down to the St. Paul three-yard line before Paziuk, then at his outside linebacker spot, stripped the ball from Funk' arms and recovered his own fumble to end the Bisons' drive and give St Paul the ball and dash the hopes of Ardrossan.
The Lions then drove deep into Bisons territory using up almost all the rest of the second going into halftime leading 13 – 0.
“We pushed them around pretty well in the first half. We are bigger and stronger but they have athletes. They weren't going down without a fight,” said coach Tichkowsky.
The Bisons must have received a talking to at the half because they came out strong scoring back to
back touchdowns in the third quarter to take the lead 13 – 14. The Lions could have folded when faced
with adversity but the team dug deep and retook the lead late in the third quarter on a 24-yard run by rookie Tyler Foote.
The two-point conversion was unsuccessful and the Lions lead 19 – 14 at the end of the third quarter. Both defences stood tall in the fourth quarter with several Lions distinguishing themselves.
Brady Fodness, streaking in from the right end, stripped the ball from Funk ending another Ardrossan drive, and Lane Peters laid out teeth rattling hits.
The entire defensive back corps stepped up knocking down pass after pass in the final quarter. The Bisons drove deep with time running out but the Lions weathered the storm with the final pass dropping harmlessly into the end-zone and the horn sounding.
A couple seconds of stunned silence ensued until the St. Paul bench erupted upon figuring out that they had won.
The Lions now travel to Raymond where they will battle the Willow Creek Cobras Saturday at 11 a.m. for the Tier IV Championship.
“They're big, mean and have a balanced attack. They beat an undefeated team from Drumheller 48 – 7 so they must have talent. We are going back to basics running our regular drills to stay sharp. We will be watching film, formulating our game plan then training to execute it. These young men will be laying it all on the line, we have a dozen graduating Grade 12s and you can guarantee that every Lion will give his all in their final game,” said Tichkowsky
In other Wheatland league action the Lloydminster Comp Barons lost 31 - 32 to Edmonton's Austin
O'Brien Crusaders on a last-second field goal at Armstrong Field. The Holy Rosary Raiders ghosted
the Sturgeon Spirits in a 56 – 0 shellacking at the Raider Bowl. The Raiders also advanced and will
face the Cochrane Cobras for the second year in a row for the Tier III title.
Nov. 9
In the game against Sexsmith on Nov. 9, the Lions won the coin toss and never really looked back as Josh
Foote ran back the opening kickoff 95 yards to put the Lions up by a major seconds into the game. The
field conditions were rough but equal for both teams with the snow scraped from the slippery frozen
ground.
The lack of traction hurt the bigger Lions more than their smaller opponents. Dave Campeau
would put the Lions up by 14 points early in the second. Sexsmith got on the board late in the quarter but Danny Cardinal got a hand on the extra point.
The Lions reestablished the two score advantage before the half leading 21 – 6 at the break and cruised to a 30 – 12 victory.
