RED DEER — The Foothills Falcons Tier I provincial dreams were dashed by the narrowest of margins.
The Salisbury Sabres returned two long range attempted field goals for single points out of the end zone in the final minute of regulation to force overtime and won on a 35-yard touchdown reception from Jaxson Sterling to take the Football Alberta Tier I Larry Wilson Provincial title by a 34-27 count on Saturday at Red Deer’s Great Chief Park.
“It was so close, you always have those comments about a yard, or an inch and it showed up in the biggest game,” said Falcons head coach Nathan St. Dennis. “If he doesn’t get that one yard out of the end zone and we get that single point, that’s a win, and it pretty much happened twice.
“It’s just those little things and if they go your way or not.”
The Sabres carried a 27-24 advantage into the fourth quarter with the Comp evening the score on a 19 yard field goal from Jacob Van Horne with 2:40 left on the clock.
Foothills threatened to score twice more in the final moments, needing just a single point.
Somewhat fittingly, the Sabres, known as the Big Red, would not go down on a rouge.
“Canadian football with that single point, we’re looking at it and knew our field goal would probably kick further than our punt,” St. Dennis said.
“Jacob kicked the ball pretty deep and you’ve got different kids covering, you’re weighing all those options and we thought that was the best move for us. It was real close. And then going to overtime, it’s hard to prepare for something like that.
“Good on them, they’re a good football team with great coaches.”
In the extra session, Sterling scored on a 35-yard pass play from quarterback Carson McFaull on the first possession. With the Falcons needing to answer with a touchdown of their own, the contest ended on a knocked down pass attempt.
“It was two great football teams, back and forth constantly,” said St. Dennis. “It was great to see our offence respond at times.”
The Falcons moved the ball, had the time of possession and yardage edge over the Sabres with Salisbury dialing up its big play ability to score at the most opportune of times.
“We had over 100 yards more offence than them, three times as many first downs as them,” the coach added. “It was just big plays, they found a couple big plays to get touchdowns.”
Foothills had a few of its own.
In the first half, receiver Nathan Voth sparked the offence with a highlight reel one-handed catch and run into the end zone for a 48-yard touchdown from quarterback Emerson Liepert.
Voth found his way into the end zone late in the half on a 27-yard major. Lucas Gough had the Falcons’ other touchdown on a 25 yard scamper early in the second half.
“Voth is awesome, he’s a Diamond Valley kid, just working hard, great attitude and finding a way to make plays,” St. Dennis said. “That’s a great part of our offence with Jackie Kellogg, he has the kids in a great spot where they’re able to make adjustments and Emerson is able to find the open man.
“It was Baker last week, Voth this week. It was awesome to see our offence really get rewarded.”
St. Dennis said the post-game message to the Falcons, a senior-loaded group many of whom have been part of the program for three years, was to be proud of one another.
“Just think about the process, for us it’s not just show up in the fall and play, this is almost a year-round thing for our guys with workouts and commitment,” the coach added. “You think about three years ago with our Grade 12s who were in Grade 10, they came out of COVID and we had a lot of them starting against Tier I football teams and they were taking their lumps and we were talking about the process.
“Talking about everything has to happen outside of fall with the workouts, the commitment and it showed. We saw the improvement last year and then this year it was unbelievable.”
The Alberta Bowl weekend also saw the Ernest Manning Griffins upset the Raymond Comets 28-24 in the Tier I Brian Fryer final, the Austin O’Brien Crusaders edge the Cochrane Cobras 7-3 for the Tier II banner, Holy Rosary upend Cardston 28-6 in the Tier III final and St. Paul blank Drumheller 41-0 in the Tier IV championship.
Reflecting on the journey, St. Dennis said his seniors worked for everything they got.
“I know they’ve taken a lot from it, they can’t not, it’s a grind going this far against this kind of competition,” he said. “I knew they had it from the start, outside of football talent, they’re just hard working kids, they care a lot, they commit a lot.
“That’s going to serve them way beyond football.”
