2015 FCC Game 1: Alberta 39, Manitoba 08

I've been looking forward to the Football Canada Cup for months and when it finally started, I was unable to give it the attention that I'd planned to. But I'm catching up now.

Football Canada does a good job of recapping the games, providing stats and so, and it would only make sense to refer to them for information. No sense in repeating it here word for word. I'm going to attempt to track down alternative media sources then, starting with a recap of the first game between Alberta and Manitoba, from the Cochrane Eagle. The photo of Des Catellier is from Rocky View Weekly by way of Alberta Football News.

Team Alberta started off on the right foot at the Football Canada Cup tournament in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., on July 13. 

Riding the arm of Cochrane Midget Lions quarterback Des Catellier, Alberta defeated Team Manitoba 39-8 at the national tournament for elite, under-18-year-old (U18) high school football players. 

Catellier threw for three touchdowns and booted two field goals to power Alberta to the win. Slated to play the first half, an early injury to second-half QB Alexander Noel of Grande Prairie left Catellier in the driver’s seat for the entire contest. He was 17-of-27 for 252 yards, three TDs and a pick. 

“The offensive line played really well, I had a lot of good protection,” said the Bearspaw resident who plays high-school ball for Calgary powerhouse St. Francis. “The play-calling was good. I like our playbook. It was good.” 

Alberta vaulted to a 19-0 lead, 14 points coming on a 37-yard TD strike to Foothills Comp’s (Okotoks) Landon Rose and a 66-yard scoring connection with Red Deer’s Ben Pasiuk. 

... 

Joining Catellier on Team Alberta are high school all-stars Justin Sambu (defensive end, Cochrane High) and Dan Teitz (linebacker, Springbank High). Like Catellier, both play community club ball for Cochrane Midget Lions. 

“We were just looking to execute,” Sambu said of Alberta holding Manitoba to eight points. “The coaches really thrive when the defence plays up-tempo. We’re looking to execute and be great football players. 

“It was a lot harder than what I’m used to. They (Manitoba) were pretty good.” 

Sambu chased down two tackles from his defensive-end spot and knocked down a Manitoba field-goal attempt... 

Alberta Offensive Player of the Game
QB / PK Des Catellier: 17 of 27 passing, 252 yards, 3 TDs, 3 carries for 15 yards

Alberta Defensive Player of the Game
DL Tyrese Best:  2.0 tackles, 1 sack and a pass knockdown

Manitoba Offensive Player of the Game
REC Liam Grace: Five receptions for 63 yards and a score.

Manitoba Defensive Player of the Game
DL Jalen Burley: 3.5 tackles (1.5 for loss), 1 sack.

In terms of contributors, Manitoba QB Bryson McNeil hit Grace for the TD from 38 yards out. Matthew Lucyshin took an interception back for a score late in the fourth quarter as well. Finally, Manitoba's Keenan Onyebuchi is credited with eight solo tackles.

Alberta ready for Football Canada Cup 2015

Since Team Canada pulled out of the bungled IFAF Senior World Championship tournament (something I choose to not dwell on), attention turns to the Football Canada Cup in July. New Brunswick announced its roster late last month, and Alberta did the same recently.

Typically, that generates a few articles in local papers. Last week, the Rocky View Weekly published a brief article about the Cochrane area players that will suit up for Team Alberta. There's a portion of that below (full version, by Brendan Nagle, here) though the picture is from the Cochrane Times.

Three Cochrane-area football players have made the final cut for Football Alberta’s under-18-years-old (U18) provincial football team. 

Quarterback Des Catellier of Bearspaw, defensive lineman Justin Sambu of Cochrane and linebacker Dan Teitz of Springbank, all of whom play for the Cochrane Lions, will play for Team Alberta at the Football Canada Cup (FCC) U18 championship in Montreal this summer. 

They were chosen May 10 from a pool of 130 of Alberta’s top minor football players following Football Alberta’s U18 main selection camp in Calgary. When the selection process began in April, there were 400 players trying out. Forty made the team. 

“It feels pretty good. It’s great talent. Everybody’s working hard,” said Catellier, 17, who plays high school football for Calgary powerhouse St. Francis. 

The Grade 11 student is in his second tour with Team Alberta, last year going as a kicker and backup quarterback. This season he’s going as quarterback first, kicker second. 

Whether he starts at QB is still to be determined leading up to July’s FCC in Montreal. At the May 10 Team Alberta scrimmage on McMahon Stadium’s FieldTurf surface, the lanky pivot threw a touchdown strike to Bev Facey’s (Sherwood Park) Chuba Hubbard and ran for a touchdown on the two offensive sequences he played. 

“It’s going to be a good experience to see how we stack up against the rest of the country,” Catellier said.

St. Francis posted a 5-1 record in 2014. Their loss came when the Notre Dame Pride defeated them 21-18. The two teams met again in the city championship game and the Pride won again (their third consecutive title), this time 17-10. St. Francis was ranked 5th in the country going into that game.

Here's the full Alberta roster, as displayed by Alberta Football News. St. Francis is certainly well represented.

Football Canada Cup, Day 3: Québec 22, Alberta 19

They may have been shut out of the medals, but the Alberta team should be proud of their resiliency.  For the second game in a row they clawed back into contention after falling behind early instead of going through the motions until the gun sounded.  Small consolation, no doubt, but credit is deserved nonetheless.

Somewhat ironically,Québec is probably a little disappointed as well after winning bronze following three golden years.

Quebec led 17-0 at the end of the first quarter following a John Molson field goal, a 20-yard Samuel Makwanda touchdown run and a Mathieu Blanchette receiving touchdown from quarterback Zacharie Quiviger.   

Alberta replied early in the second quarter with a 1-yard Alex Basilis quarterback sneak to inch closer 17-10. 

Following the score Quebec received great starting field position at the Alberta 35-yard line. Alberta’s defense stepping up forcing a turnover as Alberta defensive lineman Anthony Hume intercepted a batted pass at the line to stop the Quebec attack in its tracks. Alberta was unable to capitalize on the turnover as Quebec’s defense stood strong, forcing a punt with a minute to play in the opening half. 

To end the third quarter, following a conceded Alberta safety earlier in the quarter, Alex Basilis recovered his own punt at the Quebec 32-yard line to give Alberta a fresh set of downs. Alberta took advantage as kicker, Des Catallier nailed a 30-yard field goal to narrow the Quebec deficit to 3 points, 19-16. 

A second Catallier field goal tied the game up at 19 with 4 minutes to play. 

Zacharie Quiviger connected with a receiver François Rocheleau who made a spectacular 20-yard reception to set up a Quebec first and goal at the 5-yard line. With 1:10 to play in the bronze medal game John Molson kicked a 13-yard field goal to give Quebec a 22-19 lead. 

With the clock winding down, Alberta tried to respond. With under a minute to play, a pass interference penalty against Quebec gave Alberta a 1st down at the Quebec 43-yard line. 

Following a stifling Quebec blitz set-up a 2nd and 24, Basilis threw over the middle and was intercepted by defensive back John Molson to seal the Quebec victory.

MVPs
Québec offense: RB Samuel Makwanda - 20 carries for 165 yards, one touchdown.
Québec defense: DB Jérémie Dominique - 1 solo tackle and an interception.

Alberta offense: RB Myles Browne - 14 carries for 50 yards, 8  receptions for 80 yards.
Alberta defense: LB Brendan Doubell - 1 solo tackle, an assist and a quarterback sack.

Football Canada Cup, Day 2: Sask Green 40, Alberta 32

Many of the games in this tournament have not been competitive.  The one below started out that way, but give credit to Team Alberta for making it arguably the most exciting contest of the event.  Great way to close out the day.  The recap is from the Star Pheonix.

Saskatchewan Green built up a big lead and hung on to beat Alberta 40-32 in their second game of the Canada Cup under-18 football tournament Wednesday at Griffiths Stadium. 

... 

While Saskatchewan Green’s offence never got on track in the first quarter – a penalty that negated a long touchdown didn’t help – things turned around in the second. 

Led by Moose Jaw quarterback Sawyer Buettner, Saskatchewan scored three majors in the quarter to carry a 22-14 lead in the break. 

The course of the game changed, at least temporarily, when Saskatchewan found the end zone twice in the final minute. 

First, backup pivot Cordell Kadash scored his second rushing touchdown of the quarter when he dove in on a second-and-goal try. That play was set up by an unnecessary roughness of a defensive receiver penalty on Alberta. 

Then, following an interception by Benjamin Whiting, Buettner found Kade Belyk from five yards out. 

Buettner had completed all but one of his 14 passes in the first half for 177 yards. 

... 

Saskatchewan continued its sustained offence in the third quarter by scoring 17 points – a 30-yard field goal by Kristopher Calcutt and touchdowns by Ben Getzlaf and Kadash.
But Alberta narrowed the gap with a touchdown on the last play of the third quarter by Jacob Janke. 

A field goal and another major put Alberta within eight. 

Saskatchewan did its best to run out the clock, but a low snap on a punt attempt in the final minute led to a big loss. 

That gave Alberta the ball at midfield with 29 seconds left. A three-and-out gave Saskatchewan the win.

Get a load of the QB numbers.

MVPs
Sask Green: QB Sawyer Buettner - 18 of 22 passing 250 yards, two TDs.  6 carries for 90 yards.
Sask Green: DL Nathan Cherry - Three solo tackles and an assist, 1.5 quarterback sacks.

Alberta offense: QB Alex Basilis - 17 of 26 passing for 280 yards and 3tds.  Three carries for 21 yards.
Alberta defense: DL Dexter Da Silva - Two solo tackles and an assist, 1.5 quarterback sacks.

Football Canada Cup, Day 1, Game 1: Alberta 76, New Brunswick 00

The following recap is copied from Football Alberta's website.

Different year, same result as Alberta scored on every possesion of the game and held the New Brunswick offense in check to the point where they never crossed mid-field, which was very reminicent of last years 79-6 thrashing of New Brunswick in the same game. 

Quarterback Alex Basilis (St. Mary's, Calgary) started things off rushing for the first two TD's of the game from 1 and 7 yards respectively which was followed by three more Alberta rushing TD's in the first quarter from Myles Browne (Notre Dame, Calgary), Jacob Janke (Harry Ainlay, Edmonton) and Landon Rosene (H.J. Cody, Sylvan Lake) to make it 34-0. New Brunswick's lone bright spot was a blocked convert on the second Alberta TD. 

The second quarter saw more Alberta firepower but this time through the air as Des Catellier (St. Francis, Calgary) hooked up with Tristan Getzinger (Medicine Hat) and Sam Clayton (Bev Facey, Sherwood Park) for TD passes of 15 and 32 yards respectively. That was followed by TD run from Browne of 42 yards and to make it 55-0 at the half. 

The second half saw a running clock and TD's from Rosene of 2 yards, Cam St. Amand (Bishop Carroll, Calgary) with a 10 yard fumble recovery, and finally Kelton Bailey (Peace River) with a 58 yard pass and run from Basilis.

New Brunswick's Head Coach took the best attitude possible.

Despite the win New Brunswick head coach, Chris Hopkins was happy with his team’s improvement over the course of its first 2014 Canada Cup contest. 

“I’m happy the guys battled hard non-stop. We can in with the goal of getting better every rep with maximum effort and that’s exactly what we did.” 

We played four quarters of football, got better every rep. Every rep throughout with week is going to make us better and that’s what this tournament is about – changing the culture of Football New Brunswick...”

MVPs
Alberta offense: WR Jacob Janke - I gather that Janke must have done some spectacular things in the return game because he is not credited with any receptions.  He is, however, credited with two carries for 58 yards and a score.
Alberta defense: DL Bobby Sugai - Two tackles, two assists and a sack.

New Brunswick offense: QB Gordon Brown - six completions on nine attempts, for 67 yards.
New Brunswick defense: DB Kyle Baxter - Three solo tackles