By Sturgeon Spirits Head Coach Chad Hill
In the inaugural season of junior football, the Sturgeon Spirits will be playing for a divisional championship banner. With a decisive 34-0 victory over the Beaumont Junior Bandits last Wednesday night (October 23rd) at Johhny Bright Park, the Junior Spirits have punched their ticket to the Edmonton Metro Athletic Association Division Three junior football finals.
The Junior Spirits have shown marked improvement in recent weeks. The semi-final was never in question as Sturgeon opened the game with a 45-yard Merrick Ouellette run. One series later, Ouellette would find the endzone on a 35-yard burst in which the grade eleven standout demonstrated the speed and power that earned him a nomination for the Grant Yuzyk award for the league’s most valuable player. Dynamic receiver Riley Brown would run in the two-point conversion for the 8-0. Sturgeon lead. The Spirits would score a second major in the first quarter as Paul Colcy crossed the goal line from two yards out to cap off a short drive.
In the second quarter, the Junior defense played their finest football of 2024. Rookie defensive back Branden Panchyshyn highlighted the stalwart defensive effort as he leaped in front of a would-be Bandit receiver and snatched the football in stride en route to a fifty-yard score.
Quarterback Isaac Lorenzin would add a rushing major of his own on a nifty nine-yard scamper before half. The Spirits took a commanding 28-0 lead into the locker room.
The second half would be a continuation of the dominant Sturgeon defense. The charge was led by Ouellette, Brown as well as defensive end, Addler Hoffman and rookie linebackers Paul Colcy and Riley Carter. Offensively, Ouellette would score his second major on a 59-yard run. Ouellette would end the game with 188 yards rushing and two touchdowns on 14 carries. The game would end with an exclamation point as two-way lineman Sebastian Tucker guaranteed the shutout with a quarterback sack.
Next up, the Junior Spirits will challenge the first-place Austin O’Brien Junior Crusaders for the division title. In week two, the Crusaders handed the Spirits their only loss of the season in a 36-6 blow-out. Kick-off will be 5 pm at Johnny Bright Park on Wednesday, October 30th.
Senior Football Season Ends
On Friday, Oct.25, the Sturgeon Spirits Senior football season came to an abrupt end at Foote Field. The Spirits fell 45-0 to the defending Miles Conference (Division 2) champion, Bellerose Bulldogs. Bellerose previously competed in the Carr Conference (Division One) from 2010 through 2022. Since dropping to Division Two, they have only lost two games. One of those was to the Beaumont Bandits in week 1 of the season. The rematch for the Miles crown will take place on Saturday, November 2 at 2 pm at Commonwealth Stadium.
The Spirits nominated two-way star Tanner McBride for the Haliburton award for the Most Valuable Player in high school football in the Metro Edmonton Metro Athletic Association. In eight games, the multi-purpose weapon set school records with over 1100 rushing yards and over 1500 yards from scrimmage, as well as 22 touchdowns. McBride signed earlier this fall to take his talents to the University of Alberta Golden Bears in 2025.
