The defending champions have advanced to their third consecutive provincial final.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights outlasted the run-heavy attack of the Lacombe Rams to score 21-unanswered points in the second half to win the Football Alberta Tier II provincial semifinal 35-7, Nov. 20 at Calgary’s Hellard Field.
“The energy and everything — it’s just once in a lifetime and for me it’s twice in a lifetime and I’m just really lucky,” said Knights Grade 12 defensive tackle David Jimenez-Gutierrez, a member of the 2019 provincial championship squad. “In high school, football you only have three years in Canada and then it’s all over.
“It’s a great opportunity.”
HTA, the fourth-ranked team in Alberta entering the weekend, will meet the top-ranked St. Joseph’s Celtics in the provincial final on Nov. 26 at Edmonton’s Commonwealth Stadium.
It’s the third consecutive appearance in the big dance after winning the title in 2019 and finishing as runner-ups in 2018. The shortened 2020 season did not have a playoff.
“It means a lot,” said Knights slotback Michael Eagle Bear. “I’ve never been to a provincial title game in my whole football career so it feels really good, especially with this group and we’re all excited to play next week.
“It’s really good, we’re coming off a couple wins now, I feel great, the team feels great, we feel pretty unstoppable right now.”
The Knights took control early in the semifinal with special teams setting the table for the offence.
On the opening kick-off, the Knights forced a fumble recovered by Tyler Jensen inside the red-zone.
They were in the end-zone three plays later on a short yardage scamper from Eagle Bear.
The defence then took a leading role with defensive lineman Isaac Holunga forcing the Rams to punt on their first drive leading to another trip to pay-dirt for the green-clad Knights.
Quarterback Ryan Petersen found wide receiver Chris Peloso wide-open down the field and connected for a 42-yard catch and run touchdown to make it 14-0 midway through the first quarter.
“Our (defensive) line was much maligned in the early part of the year and we figured out rotations,” said Knights head coach Matt Hassett. “And different guys have stepped up, they’re really grown and progressed throughout the year. There’s a much different look to them than there was those first few weeks.”
The Rams established some momentum in the second-quarter with its ground game making ground, moving the chains and keeping the Knights’ potent offence on the sidelines.
Lacombe quarterback Scott Magee got the Rams in the end-zone late in the half on a 17-yard run.
“They’re just an aggressive team out of the gun,” Jimenez-Gutierrez said. “We got a few scores and then in the second (quarter) they just came at us and we weren’t ready for it.
“It was just staying in our gaps, containing our gaps and doing our jobs and if everyone does their jobs, we’re going to win at the end of the day.”
For HTA, the halftime was spent emphasizing the need to keep the collective foot on the gas against good opposition.
“They were a lot more physical than I thought they were and good for them and that’s what I was trying to hammer into the kids heads (at halftime) is there are no bad teams right now so if we take anyone lightly we’re going to regret it,” Hassett said. “I thought we took our foot off the gas a little bit and the penalties kind of killed us.
“Against good teams, you can’t go 2nd and 20, 1st and 20, and that’s what we talked about at halftime, stop taking penalties.”
In the second-half, the Knights took back momentum with the defence pinning the Rams and forcing a short punt and excellent field position for HTA.
Eagle Bear, who took a few snaps out of the wildcat formation, ran in his second touchdown on a direct snap early in the third quarter as the Knights effectively mixed up its plays while relying primarily on the running game.
“Definitely the O-line and the blocking had a contribution to it,” Eagle Bear said. “We had Kade (Wood) in the backfield now, he made the transition this week and that made a big difference having a big guy in the back blocking for you.
“We were just able to give them a lot of different looks and keep the mystery so they didn’t know what’s coming.”
The Knights added to their lead in the fourth-quarter with Eagle Bear scoring on a majestic 52-yard run, making several Rams miss along the way.
Runningback Jake Bourdin then put the exclamation point on the victory with a 31-yard run into the end-zone in the final two minutes.
“We just dialed in,” Eagle Bear said. “I think we played down a little bit in the second-quarter and we just had to play football like we do. When we play football like we do, I don’t think there’s a lot of teams that can keep up with us.”
The Football Alberta finals will see the Knights meet the Celtics for the second time this season after St. Joe’s took the first contest in a blowout in early-September.
The Tier I finals, also at Commonwealth, will pit St. Francis and Harry Ainlay and in the regional Tier I final it's the Ross Sheppard Thunderbirds and Raymond Comets, the Tier III final features the Cochrane Cobras and Holy Rosary Raiders while the Tier IV championship has the Sexsmith Sabres and W.R. Myers Rebels doing battle.
“We’ve talked a lot about how we’re a young team,” Hassett said. “Building each week and just trying to be better each day out on the field and that’s kind of the motto all of the time.”
