Bellerose Bulldogs Football

Clarke Park – The Bellerose Bulldogs finished what they started to win the first high school junior football championship in school history.

The Bulldogs completed an amazing undefeated season with a memorable 44-6 conquest of the St. Joseph Saints in Tuesday’s metro Edmonton premier conference final.

“It’s a special day for Bulldogs football,” declared head coach Chad Hill, while surrounded by his happy players at the end of the game. “You’re champs and you’re going to be crowned as such.”

It was the culmination of a dominating performance by a Bellerose team that averaged 33.4 points per game and allowed only five touchdowns and 40 points in nine victories.

“We were preparing all season for this moment to be champions,” Hill said following the jubilant post-game trophy presentation. “Our goal right from training camp was to be champions and that was the mind frame the entire time. The players didn’t think of anything different.”

Game star Dylan Shorten described the magnitude of the moment as overwhelming.

“It’s the best feeling ever to win something like this with your teammates. We’ve all put in so much effort to make this happen. In every single game we tried our hardest and it just means so much to us to come out as champions,” said the Grade 10 slotback who stunned the Saints with three riveting touchdown receptions in the second half.

Defensive end John Comeau dedicated the win to the Bulldogs’ football fraternity.

“This is for all the alumni that have played for Bellerose. I know it really makes them proud when they look in your paper and see that Bellerose has done as good as it’s done in the junior program. It’s just super exciting,” said the Grade 10 tackling machine.

The junior Bulldogs will be remembered as the first undefeated team at Bellerose after the St. Albert Storm era and the first team to celebrate a championship since the 2007 Miles conference victory by the senior team.

“It’s great what we accomplished for our school. It’s a new record for Bellerose,” said Matt Short, a Grade 11 quarterback who picked apart the Saints’ secondary for four TD passes.

The last junior final for the Bulldogs was 2005, when they lost 29-9 to the St. Albert Hawks for the premier title after leading 1-0 after three quarters.

“This is another important step for the program,” said Hill, who coached the 2005 Bulldogs in the return of the junior program at Bellerose. “We’ve come close in the past in junior. We’ve had some overachieving teams, with the exception of 2005. We’ve also had some tough losses in the semifinals, so when we got past Salisbury (41-0 in the semifinals) it was a great feeling to get to the final but we knew that wasn’t it for us. We wanted more. We wanted to win the championship.”

Slow out of the chute

In the first half the Bulldogs looked scared to lose instead of playing like a team to fear.

“St. Joe’s came out really strong in the beginning in the first half. It was really the first time we’ve been challenged in a game,” Comeau said.

The 14-6 halftime lead flattered the Bulldogs.

“For the first time this season we faced adversity but our true character eventually shone through,” Hill said.

The first series after the opening kickoff the Bulldogs failed to gain a first down and turned the ball over on downs at the Bellerose 39.

It was on the second play from scrimmage that fullback/defensive tackle Ben MacKay suffered a lower body injury. He was taken to a hospital before the half ended.

“He has been a two-way stud for us all year and a real quiet positive leader on our team. To lose somebody like that was really tough but the boys rallied,” Hill said of the Grade 11 stalwart.

Stout defensive play by both teams kept the final scoreless until Seth Waselenchuk returned a short punt to the Bellerose 52 and on the next play Short aired the ball out to a streaking Brady McColman down the sideline for a 58-yard TD with 1:28 left until quarter time.

“The energy we got off that was great. That’s what we needed,” said Short, 16, who won the starting quarterback job in training camp despite not playing last season. “We came out a little slow and they came out ready to play us so we really had to pick it up and pounce on them hard.”

In the second quarter a Waselenchuk fumble after the Saints were flagged for pass interference on Short’s delivery to Shorten gave St. Joseph the ball at the Bellerose 46. The Bulldogs dug deep to stop the Saints from gaining a first down.

After a series of punts the Saints huddled up at the Bellerose 39 and five plays later scored on a pitch play from the six with 2:23 to go before the break. The convert attempt was no good.

After the kickoff the Bulldogs moved the ball with Robbie Tamburro racking up the yards. On second and six in Saints’ territory, Short was picked off but on the tackle the Saints’ player coughed up the ball near the sideline and before it bounced out of bounds Short touched it to maintain Bellerose possession.

On first down, Short hit Shorten on a sideline route and the dashing Bulldog was tackled out of bounds at the six after a gain of 42. On third and goal at the two, Tamburro scored and Nick Cowan’s convert made it 14-6 with 52 seconds remaining.

Halftime pep talk

One of the first Bulldogs to trot off the field at halftime was a stern-looking Hill, who had some choice words for his players in the change room.

“I said for the first time this year we’re being tested so we’ve got to make adjustments. I went through a few things with a few words that I wouldn’t repeat, things that we can’t do any more that we have to change, and the boys really responded,” Hill said.

The Bulldogs took his words to heart and exploded for 30 points to turn the close contest into a rout.

“In the change room we really buckled down for a close game. We came out on fire and scored a whole bunch of touchdowns,” said Comeau, 15, who also spent time at tight-end.

The jacked-up Bulldogs struck lightning fast after Brett Usher recovered Cowan’s kickoff at the Saints’ 40. On first down, Short hooked up with Shorten for the game-shifting TD.

On the kickoff, Comeau pounced on Cowan’s boot at the Saints’ 45 but the Bulldogs were unable turn it into points.

Towards the end of the quarter the Saints’ punter conceded a safety.

In the fourth quarter, during an impressive drive engineered by Short despite two rough play infractions on the Bulldogs, Shorten jumped high for a pass at the three and fought his way into the endzone for the 27-yard TD.

Cowan’s short kickoff was recovered by James Ho at the Saints’ 45 and a few plays later Shorten’s catch and run covered 46 yards to pay dirt for the hat-trick.

“It really was an entire team effort that gave me those touchdowns. There were blocks everywhere,” said Shorten, 15, who also lined up at defensive halfback.

The Saints were unable to stop the deadly combination of Short to Shorten.

“Credit to Jonny Ziarko and the offensive coaches. Ziarko called a great game and the boys executed,” said Hill.

He described the special team’s performance on short kickoffs as textbook perfect.

“Full credit to the coverage team. Cowan was placing the ball well and they executed. It’s that type of execution that ends in a victory. We had nine of those this year and that’s enough to be champs,” Hill said.

Cowan, a key player on defence at linebacker who kicked all six converts, closed out the scoring with a long TD run after stripping the ball from a Saint on a run play.

“The boys didn’t let off. They put the foot down on them and stepped on them when they were down. They finished the way championship teams should finish,” Hill said. “All year perhaps the only thing that wasn’t great with our team was the killer instinct to finish opponents off. We would get big early leads and then we would roll a lot of players through and our third and fourth quarter points really reflect that but tonight there was no room for that. We told them we’ve got to step on them when they’re down. There is no easing off this team because it’s too good (7-2 record). They’ve got playmakers.”

Saints quarterback Austin Trachuk, the Grant Yuzyk Award winner as the junior league’s MVP, was a marked man in the game.

“Our game plan was to shut him down. We saw what he did on Paul Kane (in the 45-35 semifinal win) so we devised schemes to do that. By no means did we shut him out tonight but I thought we limited him, which is all you can hope to do with a player like that,” Hill said. 

Also nominated for the award was the speedy Waselenchuk – who missed part of the season with a lower body injury – Paul Kane tailback Kieran Porter and linebacker/receiver Mitchell Stykalo of the Hawks.

Foote Field – Ben Graunke finished his high school football career as the most valuable player in the Carr conference.

The talented Grade 12 tailback and safety for the Bellerose Bulldogs was presented with the prestigious Haliburton Trophy after the Carr final Saturday night.

“It’s an honour to win this award,” Graunke told the Gazette. “It’s a pretty big deal for me.”

The nine Carr teams in the metro Edmonton league nominated a Haliburton candidate but were not allowed to vote for their own player.

Also in the running for the MVP award were Grade 11 quarterbacks Keith Zyla of the St. Albert High Skyhawks and Cory Knott of the Paul Kane Blues.

“My goal going into the season was winning the Carr championship and winning an MVP award. We didn’t win the Carr championship but I’m really glad to have this award,” Graunke said. “It’s really what motivated me in the offseason. I worked pretty hard with my weightlifting partner, James Comeau. We worked out every day with no days off, so this award means quite a bit for me.”

Graunke, 17, joins former St. Albert winners Danny Prockiw of the Storm in 1992, Cory Jones of the Skyhawks in 1999 and 2000 and pool B recipients Kyle Connolly of the Bulldogs in 2005 and Chris Dobko of the Skyhawks in 2007.

“I’m in some pretty good company, and not only St. Albert guys. There are some good players who have won it over the years,” said the bantam graduate of the St. Albert Fury, the 2009 provincial Tier 2 finalists in his Grade 9 season.

Graunke’s final stats after eight league games and one playoff contest were 172 carries for 1,362 yards and 13 touchdowns, plus 10 receptions for 84 yards.

He was also second on Bulldogs in tackles with 40 solo and picked off one pass.

According to the metro stats dated Oct. 31, he was the conference leader in carries and was second in rushing yards behind Bryson Dobush’s 1,448 with the Falcons as their Halliburton nominee.

“Ben had an outstanding season,” said Chad Hill, head coach of the 6-3 Bulldogs, ranked 10th provincially in Tier I. “This award is the culmination of the last three seasons of hard work and dedication. Ben worked out with incredible intensity in the offseason so that he could produce the type of numbers that he did on both sides of the ball.”

“During spring camp, we had Ben listed as the third string running back and starting safety. He told me then that I would change my mind and he would prove that he could be a starting running back and not take any plays off from the defence.”

“I’m extremely proud of Ben and feel that he is very deserving of this honour.”

Graunke was tipped off about winning the award the day after the Bulldogs lost the Carr semifinal 28-8 to the Skyhawks. His last high school touchdown was a nine-yard effort against the Skyhawks in the playoff to knot the score at 7-7 with 7:26 left in the second quarter.

Graunke celebrated his accomplishment at a dinner Saturday with offensive linemen Jack Hanna, Jacob Neuls, Billy Clapp, Aiden Shiels and Curt Supruniuk, as well as offensive line coach Bob Brayman and quarterback coach Larry Olexiuk.

“I owe a lot of my success this year to my O-line. We’ve also got great coaches too,” Graunke said.

The Bulldogs contingent sat in the stands to watch the Skyhawks lose the Carr final 51-14 to the Falcons before Graunke was accompanied by Hill to field level to accept the MVP award during the post-game ceremonies.

It was close until the opening kickoff, then the roof caved in on the Bellerose Bulldogs in Thursday’s first-place showdown with the Bev Facey Falcons.

The defending Carr conference champions in metro Edmonton high school football whipped the Bulldogs 44-0 at Strathcona Athletic Park.

“We simply got beat in every facet of the game. They were better on offence, defence and special teams,” said Chad Hill, head coach of the 5-2 Bulldogs.

It went from bad to worse for the Bulldogs after they muffed the first kickoff and the offence huddled up at the Bellerose 12.

An unnecessary roughness penalty against the Bulldogs on Facey’s first drive gave the No. 3-ranked Tier I team in Alberta and extra opportunity to score.

Facey (7-0) led 14-0 after the first quarter and 29-0 at halftime.

The Bulldogs didn’t record a first down until the second quarter.

Facey also picked off two passes in the second half.

Facey’s triple option offence gave the defence fits with quarterback Brad Launhardt and running back Bryson Dobush doing most of the damage.

Launhardt also made some great plays when the Bulldogs had him on the run, but managed to scramble and find receivers.

The Bulldogs’ punt coverage team also struggled to contain Matt Nash. He gave Facey good field position with long runs the entire first half.

On defence, Ryan Shorten and Ben Graunke led the Bulldogs in tackles. Shorten also recovered a fumble in the third quarter.

Jacob Neuls and Billy Clapp also showed toughness playing both ways for most of the game.

The Bulldogs, ranked eighth in Tier 1, close out the regular season in Thursday’s must-win game against the Austin O’Brien Crusaders (4-3). Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. at Riel Recreation Park. Admission is $5.

A win would guarantee the Bulldogs a playoff spot. A loss would potentially create a three-way tie and the tie-breaking rules would determine the second, third and fourth place finishers for the Oct. 30 semifinals at Clarke Park.

The Bulldogs and St. Albert High Skyhawks (5-2) share second place, two points head of the Crusaders and Salisbury Sabres (4-3).

“This better be a wakeup call for us,” Hill said. “There is no time to dwell on the loss. We have to regroup and focus on AOB, who is looking strong once again.”