Above: James Morrison with the ball in Friday’s game. Submitted photo.
submitted by Chad Hill, Sturgeon Composite High School Social Studies Department – Head Football Coach
Week 2 ended up being another defensive struggle between the Sturgeon Spirits and O’Leary Spartans in Metro Athletics Division 2 (Miles) football.
It was an unseasonably warm but windy evening at Larry Olexiuk Field in St. Albert. The Spartans used that breeze to their advantage on the opening kickoff as the ball sailed deep into the Sturgeon end zone, and the Spirits were forced to concede the single point . The lead would not last long however. Before the 1st quarter would end, the Spirits would score their only two touchdowns of the game.
The first was a highlight reel catch and run by versatile running back, James Morrison. Morrison to the Dusty Campbell screen pass on the Spartan 45-yard line and weaved his way through defenders before turning on the jets for his first major of the season.
On the very next drive the Spirits started on a short field thanks to a Sam Cyr fumble recovery. From the 12-yard line, QB, Dusty Campbell threw a perfect strike to stand-out receiver, Tanner McBride in the back of the endzone. Steele Doronski was successful on both convert attempts. 14-1 after 1.
From then on out, the defence took over. Sturgeon gained one more point before half on a 60-yard Riley Keiftenbeld punt that had a fortuitous bounce deep into the Spartan end zone. 15-1 at half time.
The Spartans utilized a ground-heavy attack and their drives chewed up more time of the score clock than it did yards on the turf. They did finally hit pay dirt with a 40-yard TD strike to a wide-open receiver on a busted Sturgeon coverage. The convert attempt failed as Adam DaHoy laid a thunderous hit on a would-be Spartan ball carrier. 15-7 after three quarters, and that would end up being the final score in the game .
Dusty Campbell led all Sturgeon rushers with 68 yards off of 12 carries. He was also the leading passer as he connected on 60 percent of his passes with two touchdown passes and one interception.
Defensively , Sturgeon was led by linebacker, Steele Doronski, who made his season debut after sitting out week one with a non-football injury.
Doronski tallied seven tackles and was the emotional leader of the rock-solid Defense.
Sturgeon now sits tied for first place with the Bellerose Bulldogs as the only undefeated team in the 8-team Miles Conference .
Next up: Sturgeon (2-0) hosts the Leduc Tigers (0-2). Kick-off is 5 p.m. Friday, sept. 22 at Olexiuk Field.
Number 55 Riley McRobbie leading pregame warm up. – Submitted photo
