Bellerose Bulldogs Football

The Bellerose Bulldogs limp into their bye week winless in two games and in jeopardy of missing the Carr division one playoffs.

The Bulldogs (3-3) have to beat the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds (0-4) Oct. 23 and the Spruce Grove Panthers (3-1-1) Oct. 30 for a shot at qualifying for the Nov. 6 semifinals.

The Bulldogs share fourth place with the Harry Ainlay Titans (3-3), who defeated Bellerose 27-6 in the season opener.

The Football Alberta Tier I (school population 1,250-plus) rankings list the Bulldogs eighth as the lowest metro Edmonton team in the top 10. The Bev Facey Falcons (5-0) are third, the Panthers are fifth and the Titans are seventh.

Last week the Bulldogs were humbled 54-7 by Facey in St. Albert. It was 14-0 for the defending Carr champions when Matt Heinrichs forced the Facey punt returner to fumble and D'Andre Plaizier swatted the ball out of bounds at the Facey 30. A key third-down Morgan Sherban completion to Corbin Stewart moved the chains. Sherban then ran consecutive quarterback dives from the three and one for the touchdown.

Grayson Kurjata recovered the on-side kick but the offence was unable to capitalize and Jayden Carroll was stopped on a fake field goal from the 35.

The first half ended with the Bulldogs trailing 28-7. Facey poured it on in the fourth quarter after scoring a TD in the third and kept going for two-point conversions despite their kicker nailing a 45-yard field goal in the quarter.

The Bulldogs finished with basically no rushing yards if you include losses.

Sherban was 17-for-28 passing for 106 yards. Carroll had three catches for 38 yards as the ball was spread out.

Heinrichs led the defence with eight tackles and Plaizier had four tackles on special teams.

The nicked-up Bulldogs also lost defensive tackle Ryan Young in the second quarter to an upper-body injury and running back Zach Nuttall left the game in the third quarter with a lower body injury after only eight touches (five catches and three carries).