Bellerose Bulldogs Football

The Bellerose Bulldogs kicked off the playoffs Friday determined not to let the high school football season end with a loss.

“We’re very excited. I know for all the seniors this could be our last game that we play in our high school careers so let’s not make it our last,” said Adam Rafat, a prime-time Grade 12 slotback prior to Thursday’s practise at Bellerose.

The score against the Spruce Grove Panthers in the opening round of the division one Carr conference playoffs in the metro Edmonton league was unavailable at press time.

The previous week in Spruce Grove, the teams squared-off in the last game before the playoffs with Bellerose outscoring the Panthers 49-42.

The fourth versus fifth playoff bracket was already determined before the match as Bellerose (221 PF/202 PA) finished 4-3 as the No. 10-ranked Tier I (1,250-plus students) team in the province and the Panthers (236 PF/259 PA) wound up 3-4.

“It was a very important win because it gave all the boys on the team confidence. It got us rolling so going into this game we have a lot of confidence and we’re going to come out of it with the win,” Rafat, 17, said.

The teams combined for 894 yards offensively – 447 rushing and 50 passing for the Panthers compared to 131 rushing and 266 passing for Bellerose – and 13 touchdowns with six per side offensively and Max Taylor’s fumble recovery for points in the second quarter.

It was 7-7 at the end of the first quarter, 27-21 Bellerose at halftime and 35-34 Panthers after three quarters.

“That was definitely a team effort. Everyone played really good. We just have to work on our run (defence) and our offence has to play better,” Rafat said. “The weather factor is going to be a huge thing (Friday) especially since they have an advantage there because they’re primarily a run team. They’re running the ball a lot rather than passing.”

The Panthers averaged 8.7 yards per carry on 52 attempts for six touchdowns of one, two, 47, four, one and seven yards.

Gage Froese led Bellerose in rushing with 108 yards on 16 carries and TDs of one yard in the first quarter and eight yards to make it 34-28 in the third quarter.

Froese’s totals in league play are 534 yards on 92 carries.

Quarterback Tristan Olenick completed 13 of 22 passes of 266 yards and TDs of 21 yards to Jordan Howe and 26 yards to Caleb Akerley in the second quarter and Rafat’s 55 yard go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.

Rafat’s seventh TD reception of the season was converted by Mohammad Zeidan as Bellerose regained the lead at 42-35.

“I had a lot of adrenaline going through that play, but if wasn’t for Tristan I wouldn't have got that touchdown pass,” said Rafat, who estimated he latched onto the ball around the 25 en route to the endzone.

Rafat led all receivers in the win with 150 yards on five receptions for season totals of 27 catches and 560 yards.

“I’ve got to work on my blocking aspect of the game, but stats wise I’ve had a pretty good season so far,” Rafat said.

Olenick, last year’s MVP of the junior Bulldogs in his Grade 10 season, has racked up 1,588 yards and 17 TDs while going 92-for-154 and was picked off six times.

Olenick’s second rushing TD this year, a one-yard effort, ended the scoring for Bellerose and the sixth extra point by Zeidan widened the gap to 49-35.

Jacob Patrick led the defence in solo tackles with eight while Jakob Kikkert, Taylor Schwam and Owen Fradette recorded six apiece.

Kikkert and Kyle Anderson were each credited with one sack.

The winner of the rematch will be the heavy underdog against the Harry Ainlay Titans (6-0-1, 312 PF/28 PA) in Friday’s semifinal at 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Stadium. The Carr championships the last two years and the 2018 Alberta Bowl Tier I finalists collared the Bulldogs 49-9 in the season opener.

“We’re trying not to look too far ahead, but the main focus is on Spruce obviously,” Rafat said. “But if we come out with a win in this game then Ainlay is definitely going to be a hard opponent to beat in the next round of the playoffs.”

Win or lose, Bellerose has shown marked improvement from last year's 3-4 team that ended the season with the 49-14 first-round playoff loss to the Austin O’Brien Crusaders.

“We've had an average season. It could’ve been better and it could’ve been worse, but obviously I’m happy where we are. We’re in the playoffs so it’s a completely different season now. Anything can happen,” said Rafat.

Tuesday’s metro Edmonton division one junior semifinal between the Bellerose Bulldogs and Salisbury Sabres kicks off at 7:30 p.m. at Clarke Stadium.

The Bulldogs (5-1-1) and Salisbury (5-2) finished second and third, respectively, in the eight-team standings.

The Bulldogs beat Salisbury 33-29 in league play Oct. 24 in Sherwood Park. At halftime the Bulldogs led 27-0.

The winner plays the Jasper Place Rebels (6-1), the defending champions, or Harry Ainlay Titans (4-2-1) in the Nov. 14 final.

Last year’s 27-11 loss in the division one semifinals to the Rebels ended an undefeated run of four consecutive undefeated championship seasons for the Bulldogs.

The Bulldogs are 39-2-1 in league and playoff action since losing the 2011 semifinal after Monday’s 62-15 rampage against the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds (0-7).

The Bulldogs cruised to leads of 39-6 at the end of the first quarter and 52-6 at halftime.

Jakob Kikkert scored on the first play from scrimmage on a 65-yard run.

Shep answered with a long run but the convert was no good.

The ensuing kick-off was returned by Kikkert 75 yards to the house.

The next TD was Zach Froese’s quarterback designed run of 44 yards and the rout was on.

Froese connected with Ethan Mickleborough on a 30-yard catch and run TD and Dylan Young’s one-yard TD burst was set-up by Adam Rafat’s reception from Froese.

Ethan Engele and Denes Demeter took over the QB duties for the last three quarters as the Bulldogs emptied the bench.

Jordan Howe pulled off a pick-six, Engele hooked up with Rafat on a 40-yard TD strike and Gage Froese ran in a two-point conversion.

Howe also returned an interception for a TD but it was called back because of an iffy illegal block. That set up Kikkert’s third TD on a short completion by Demeter.

Shep aired the ball out for a long TD, followed by the two-point conversion and then got a single off the kick-off.

A suspect holding penalty wiped out Will Baker’s 75-yard TD on a trick play.

A tie was better than a loss for the Bellerose Bulldogs in high school junior football.

The Bulldogs are 1-0-1 after clawing back to even the score at 28 against the Harry Ainlay Titans on Tuesday night at Larry Olexiuk Field.

“It’s a good tie because we brought our way back up,” said Jordan Howe, a Grade 10 receiver and defensive back. “We can’t let any numbers go up in the middle section so that means no losses and we’ve got to keep working on that.”

The Bulldogs shook off a 14-point deficit in the third quarter with Howe and quarterback Zach Froese scoring touchdowns and Adam Rafat’s two-point conversion.

“We made a great comeback,” Howe said. “We couldn’t take an L against these guys because our senior team lost pretty bad to them (44-14 in the division one Carr conference) so we had to prove that we can do better.

“We’ve also got to keep our junior streak going.”

The Bulldogs have yet to lose a regular season contest during a 35-1-1 stretch that started in 2012 and included last year’s 27-11 loss to the Jasper Place Rebels in the division one semifinals that ended a run of four junior playoff championships in a row and one short of the metro Edmonton league record.

The Bulldogs got off on the wrong foot while falling behind 21-14 at halftime.

“When we were losing everyone was down but we just had to keep pushing. They had a good running game and we just had to make more tackles and less mental mistakes,” Howe said. “Everyone got a few nice touchdowns and we were able to pull through in the end.”

The team’s first TD was a four-yard run by Froese early in the second quarter and the convert was no good.

With one second left in the half, Howe was on the receiving end of a TD pass from Froese on the five-yard curl into the endzone.

Froese and Ethan Mickleborough also combined on the two-point conversion.

Down 28-14, Howe turned on the jets during a blazing 60-yard catch and run with Froese pulling the trigger and the convert was unsuccessful.

“I just get so amped up when I score a touchdown like that,” Howe said. “I think the smile on my face gets the team hyped up.”

The Bulldogs tied it up with Froese’s quarterback sneak after Howe was stopped short of the goal line and Rafat ran in the two-point conversion on a jet sweep play.

The Bulldogs kicked off the season with a bang by blasting the O’Leary Spartans (0-2) 47-7 before buckling down against a formidable foe in the Titans (1-0-1).

“It was a better game because O’Leary wasn’t as strong as a team as Harry Ainlay so it was good competition. Now we know what we’re facing so we’ve got to come better prepared next time,” said Howe, 15, a bantam product of the St. Albert Fury.

Tuesday the Bulldogs tackle the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (2-0) at 6 p.m. at Larry Olexiuk Field.

The top four finishers in the eight-team division qualify for the division one semifinals and the rest of the teams compete for division two honours.