Bellerose Bulldogs Football

The junior Battle of St. Albert was a fight to the finish at Riel Recreation Park.

Zach Nuttall of the Bellerose Bulldogs delivered the knockout punch against the Paul Kane Blues with an 18-yard burst into the endzone with 79 seconds to play in Tuesday’s 28-17 thriller.

“It was really exciting, especially at the end,” Nuttall said. “It was a very hard game. They’re a really good team. They were probably the hardest team we’ll play in the regular season.”

Alden Young’s second TD catch of the game and Keaton Zaychkowsky’s convert for the Blues with 3:43 remaining left the Bulldogs clinging to a four-point lead.

“I thought we had it at the end,” Young said of the comeback charge from a 21-10 deficit after three quarters. “We played an excellent game but they just played better.”

Fans packed the stands as the only two high school junior teams in St. Albert put on a riveting performance. The talent on the field also symbolized how strong the Bellerose, which draws players from Sturgeon Composite, and Paul Kane football programs are in the metro Edmonton league.

“It was a St. Albert battle. We all know everybody on both teams and both sides just wanted to win,” said Nuttall, a Grade 11 power runner. “I didn’t really focus on the crowd too much, I just focused on my game and tried to keep pushing the chains up with my running.”

Young could also feel the good vibrations.

“I never played in front of a big crowd like that before. I was so excited,” said the Grade 11 wideout. “It was a real good game. Both teams fought really hard.”

On their first possession of the game the Blues drove the field with a mix of runs and passes from the Paul Kane 52 to the Bellerose three before settling for a Zaychkowsky field goal from the 11.

The Bulldogs replied with quarterback Jaedon Carroll’s 18-yard scamper. First downs on Matt Olesen’s nine-yard reception from Carroll and runs of 25 and 10 yards by Nuttall put the Bulldogs in scoring range. Carroll also kicked the convert.

On the next series quarterback Jamison Enger aired the ball out to Young streaking down the sideline for a 76-yard TD strike.

“It was awesome. I loved it,” Young said of the highlight-reel TD.

Zaychkowsky’s convert put the Blues back on top at 10-7 with 1:52 to go before quarter time.

A defensive tug-of-war dominated the second quarter. A.J. Hambly was making plays all over the field for the Blues at linebacker and Bulldogs had various players taking turns sticking their tackles.

The only score in the quarter was Carroll’s one-yard plunge with 3:23 to play before halftime. The 79-yard drive featured a screen pass to Nuttall for 43 yards to the Paul Kane 28 and a 13-yard run by the bruising tailback to the 15. Carroll’s convert was good to make it 14-10.

The Bulldogs recovered their short kickoff but a quarterback sack on second and long by a jacked-up Blues’ defence forced Bellerose to punt.

In the second half the Blues moved the ball with Anthony Beaulieu at the controls in place of the injured Enger but were unable to go the distance for points.

The Blues were also missing their leading receiver, Frederik Jolicouer, who didn’t play after suffering back spasms in the pregame warm-up.

Penalties were a problem for both teams on offence and defence throughout the quarter.

A lengthy drive by the Bulldogs ended with 5:11 left in the quarter when the Blues rocked Nuttall on a pitch play at the Paul Kane 25.

Play of the game

After the teams exchanged punts, the Blues huddled up at their 13 and on first down Andy Barr stepped in front of a pass and was forced out of bounds at the nine. On first and goal Carroll’s pass fell incomplete but the Blues were flagged for unnecessary roughness. On the next play Carroll cracked the goal line from the one for his third TD and sixth of the season. His convert made it 21-10 with 34 seconds remaining until quarter time.

“Andy’s interception was probably the turning point. It shifted the momentum for us,” Nuttall said.

In the fourth quarter the Blues worked the ball from their 47 into position for Beaulieu to hook up with Young in the corner of the endzone for a 19-yard TD.

“(A defender) was kind of in front of me so I gave him a little shove and then I just looked up and it was there right in my hands. It was a good throw by the quarterback,” said Young of his second TD and sixth of the season.

The key play on the time-consuming drive was Beaulieu’s swing pass to Zaychkowsky on third and 11 from the Bellerose 50. Zaychkowsky spun away from a trio of Bulldogs and weaved his way to the 32.

For the most part the Bulldogs did a remarkable job keeping Zaychkowsky, arguably the most explosive Grade 10 football player in St. Albert, under wraps.

Young’s TD lit a fire under the Blues. “Before we got that second touchdown we were down a little bit and slowing down. Before that we were going 100 per cent,” said Young, who helped keep the drive going with a 12-yard reception for a first down at the 20. “After we got that second touchdown we were back going 110 per cent.”

On the ensuing kickoff the Bulldogs scrimmaged at their 35 and a couple of quarterback runs by backup Terrell Peters moved the sticks before Carroll took over behind centre. A 32-yard romp by Colton Meronyk to the Paul Kane 17 was followed by a nine-yard gain by Nuttall. On the next play Carroll sprinted into the endzone but a flag nullified the TD.

Back at the 18, Nuttall stormed through the heart of Paul Kane's defence to seal the deal and Carroll added the conversion.

It was Nuttall’s fourth TD of the season. He entered the game with a team-leading 352 rushing yards.

“When I’m running I try and get as many yards as I run,” he said. “I have a really great O-line to give me blocking.”

This is Nuttall’s first crack at football after playing at a high level in the St. Albert rep hockey system as a right winger for the midget 15 Flyers last season and the bantam AAA Sabres in 2012/13.

“I played hockey for a long time and I just wanted to change things up,” he said. “I like running more.”

Winning streak

The Bulldogs improved to 3-0 in pool B entering Friday’s game against the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds (0-4). The score was unavailable at press time.

“This win just means we have to battle hard and get better in the games we have left and hopefully finish off the season in first place,” Nuttall said. “We did a really good job on offence and defence today. We ran the ball hard and we threw the ball pretty good. We made a couple of nice defensive plays and stopped them when we needed to.”

The two-time defending division one champions also extended their winning streak to a whopping 19 games after losing the 2011 premier semifinal.

Nuttall, 16, denied there is pressure on the Bulldogs to go undefeated again.

“No. It’s a brand new season and a brand new team but we’re definitely in the hunt,” he stressed. “If we just run hard and pass hard and play really good defence hopefully we win the championship at the end of the season.”

The loss dropped the Blues into a third-place tie with the Memorial Marauders at 2-2 in pool B. The top two teams in pools A and B advance to the division one playoffs and the rest of the teams will compete for division two honours.

If the Blues finish third and the Bulldogs remain in top spot in pool B, and everything goes according to plan in the crossover playoffs, the teams would renew their rivalry in the Oct. 29 division one semifinals.

“The next time we play them we’ll make sure that we get it done. We’ll fix our mistakes and we’ll beat them,” said Young, 16. “They made some mistakes too but we made more mistakes than they did and they just capitalized better on ours I guess.”

The last game for the Blues before the playoffs is Wednesday versus the O’Leary Spartans (1-2) at 5 p.m. at Clarke Park.