Bellerose Bulldogs Football

Johnny Bright Park – It’s getting tight around the collar for the Bellerose Bulldogs.

The Dawgs are feeling the heat to three-peat after going undefeated the last two years as the metro Edmonton division one junior football champions.

A third-straight junior banner would equal the St. Albert Hawks’ championship run of 2004 to ’06.

“Of course there is pressure but we’ve got to keep forgetting about the past. We’ve got to remember it’s a new team and we’ve got to keep pushing forward and strive towards new goals,” said Jaedon Carroll, a returning junior, after the Dawgs whipped the St. Joseph Saints 43-14 in the team’s season opener Wednesday.

It was the 17th win in a row for the juniors since losing the 2011 semifinal to the Bev Facey Falcons.

“There is a lot of pressure because you don’t want to break the 17-0 winning streak. We don’t want to be the ones to not win. We want to keep it going and get that three-peat,” said Nick Allen, a Grade 10 lineman.

The Bulldogs were chomping at the bit to defend their coveted crown as the last team in the league to make its season debut.

“It was pretty exciting for our team. We were all pretty bummed that SACHS (Hawks) dropped out of the league and we couldn’t play our first game against them (on Sept. 16) so that gave us a lot of time to fine-tune all our skills and make sure we came out here and executed things,” said Allen, a two-way centre and defensive tackle. “We rallied to the ball very well and we moved the ball up and down the field pretty well too.”

The Dawgs scored touchdowns on their first three offensive series to lead 21-0 early in the second quarter. At halftime it was pretty much a done deal at 30-14.

“It was a great win by the whole team. We did a lot of great stuff,” said Carroll, a Grade 11 quarterback who also lined up at wideout and is the team’s kicker. “Our offence had to adapt a lot of times to their D-line and did a great job of that and our defence shut them down a lot. We’ve just got to keep that up and remember to play through hard to the whistle.”

The Dawgs drove the opening kickoff 74 yards on five running plays, capped off by Colton Meronyk’s five-yard dash.

On the next series Zach Nuttall rumbled 44 yards to pay dirt to finish off a 72-yard drive that took only a few minutes off the clock.

On the team’s third offensive possession Nuttall’s power runs put the Dawgs in scoring range for Meronyk’s 10-yard TD burst.

After the Saints (2-1) conceded a safety in punt formation the Dawgs marched the ball from their 35 into the endzone on D’Andre Plaizier’s 21-yard outside run. A big gain by the tough-to-tackle Nuttall to the 21 was the key play of the drive.

On the ensuing kick off the Saints’ return man galloped 90 yards for the TD with 1:26 to go before the break.

After a two-and-out by the Dawgs the Saints’ quarterback broke loose for a 44-yard TD with 4.2 seconds on the clock.

Early in the third quarter the Saints started to unravel after their quarterback was injured on a tackle and the Dawgs were flagged for unnecessary roughness on the play.

In the fourth quarter Nuttall pounded the ball 40 yards to the Saints’ 33 and a few plays later Meronyk split the middle of the defence from seven yards out for the hat-trick. Carroll’s convert was blocked as the Dawgs led 36-14.

“Nuttall ran his butt off and wasn’t afraid to go through players either,” Carroll said of the Grade 11 Dawg and former midget 15 St. Albert Flyer.

As the game wound down Drew Morison rocked the backup quarterback on a pass play and Logan Moreau intercepted the ball at the Saints’ 44.

Carroll’s 27-yard TD run with 2:05 remaining wrapped up the scoring.

“Our offence was great today. We ran the ball outside a lot because we knew they were going to be tough inside. Our receivers did some great blocking and without that blocking you can’t really go anywhere doing that,” Carroll said. “The O-line was strong throughout the whole thing as well.”

There is strength in numbers with the Dawgs this year with a mammoth 55-man roster of players from Bellerose and Sturgeon Composite High School.

“We only have a few returning players so we’re always learning new things and we’ve got to keep that up throughout the year,” said Carroll, 16.

“We’re bonding together,” added Allen, 15. “There are some players giving up shoulder pads for other players. We’re just a real team. It’s like a family playing on this team.”

Wednesday the Dawgs tangle with the O’Leary Spartans (0-1) at 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Park.