Chuck Taylor
Journal Contributor
It was a carnival like atmosphere with over 500 people gathered at St Paul Regional Field to help the hometown Lions welcome the Westlock Thunderbirds on Sept. 6.
The parents, family and fans overflowing the grandstands and the dozens who had brought their own lawn chairs were not to be disappointed as the St Paul quarterback duo of Adam Berlinguette and Ethan Boisclair put on a show. “There were people in the stands at 5:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. start, that’s great,” said Lions head coach Mark Tichkowsky.
These Lions are breaking the previous mould by opening up the passing game. Berlinguette and Boisclair passed for over 250 yards and three touchdowns. One of the passing touchdowns was a beautiful 60-yard strike to Ty Smereka. Berlinguette the shiftier of the two pivots scrambled for two more touchdowns.
“We are putting the (Wheatland Football) League on notice that these Lions have wings and we aren’t one dimensional anymore,” said St. Paul slotback Clayton Lazowski. The Lions’ top wide receivers Tyler and Josh Foote were unavailable for this game due to a previous commitment.
The Lions received the opening kick-off and on the first play from scrimmage Malcolm Steeves broke three tackles and beat all 12 defenders to go 65 yards and opened the score 6 – 0. The extra point was no good. Westlock then got the ball and a couple first downs before defensive end Brady Fodness sacked T-Birds rookie quarterback Rikus VanRamhorsht for a big loss and a turnover on downs.
Two passes later, Boisclair found Smereka for a 60-yard touchdown. This extra point also failed as placekicking proved to be an issue.
St. Paul then forced a turnover on downs and scored back to back touchdowns after Kyler Tichkowsky recovered a beautiful Boisclair lob kick-off widening the lead to 25 – 0 by the end of the first quarter and 41 – 0 by halftime.
“We executed on all sides of the ball, and turnovers were the name of the game on defence. Westlock turned the ball over seven times including three interceptions and a ‘pick-six’ touchdown by Kelton Mangatal,” said coach Tichkowsky
At halftime, the band Slate took to a makeshift stage on the track. There were minor technical difficulties, as this was a first for St. Paul Football, but those were ironed out and Slate rocked out for the crowd.
“My girlfriend and I are new to town. You can see the lights all over town and it looked like something was going on so we decided to check it out. It was a good time, the food was good, the band was good and these boys kick ass. It reminded me of homecoming back in Ontario, all that was missing was a dunk tank and a couple midway rides. I would for sure come again,” said Marc Cooper, an employee in the oil and gas sector who was recently transferred to the Lakeland.
In the second half, the Lions went to their backups and rookies but would continue to frustrate the Thunderbirds’ efforts. “It’s hard to single out any player or unit. The O and D lines both dominated the trenches, our quarterbacks threw the ball well and the running backs ran great. The defensive backs picked off three passes. It was a great overall effort. The only thing that didn’t go like clockwork were the extra points, and we will be working on that in practice this week,” said coach Tichkowsky.
St. Paul put up two more majors and cycled 10 players through the offensive line in the third and fourth quarters. “Every Lion got to play and the backups got to play a lot of minutes. This will be important to their development.”
The Lions will take on the Bonnyville Voyageurs at 7 p.m. Sept. 13 at Walsh Field in Bonnyville.
“Bonnyville always plays us tough. They will be ready for war and we need to be too. (Duncan) Critch is a heck of a rookie running back and (Mason) Sartain is one of the fastest kids in the country,” said Tichkowsky.
The Voyageurs defeated the Cold Lake Royals 37 – 8 to go to 2 – 0 on the season.
In other Wheatland action, the Holy Rosary Raiders beat the Lloydminster Composite Barons 21 – 9. The Raiders come to town in a battle under the lights at 7 p.m. on Sept. 20.
