Bellerose Bulldogs Football

With two games remaining before the playoffs, the Bellerose Bulldogs are regrouping after back-to-back losses in the division one Carr conference.

Bellerose (2-3) hosts the Jasper Place Rebels (0-5) Friday on Senior Night at 7:30 p.m. at Larry Olexiuk Field and the last game before the metro Edmonton league playoffs is Oct. 18 against the Spruce Grove Panthers (3-2) at 6 p.m. at Fuhr Sports Park.

The Panthers are a potential playoff opponent for Bellerose as six teams qualify for the post-season starting Oct. 25 and the top two have first round byes.

The second loss for Bellerose after winning two in a row was 49-15 against the Salisbury Sabres (5-0) Thursday in Sherwood Park. The halftime score was 21-7.

In week five of the Football Alberta Tier I (1,250-plus students) rankings, Salisbury is No. 2, the defending Carr champion Harry Ainlay Titans (5-0) are No. 5 and the Panthers are No. 10.

Bellerose entered the game following last week’s hard-fought 30-28 setback to the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (4-1) at Foote Field. AOB, ranked seventh in Tier II (750 to 1,249 students) scored the winning points with a 38-yard field goal in the fourth quarter.

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.