Canada Football Chat has crowned the Knights as National Small School Champions.
It’s the third time in the last five seasons the Holy Trinity Academy Knights have earned the recognition from the football publication that focuses on amateur, high school and recruiting news from coast-to-coast and releases weekly national rankings.
HTA won the 4A provincial championship by a 49-9 score over the St. Joseph’s Celtics last month in Grande Prairie to capture its third Alberta title in its past five seasons.
Star runningback Seth Poelzer set the Alberta Bowl rushing yards record with 391 in the final.
The Knights completed the season with a 10-1 record, outscoring its opposition by a 540-144 margin. Their only loss came to the 5A powerhouse Raymond Comets in mid-October.
“The Knights finished the season with a spectacular 10-1 record, and they could’ve easily gone undefeated if they didn’t go out of their way to put Raymond on their schedule,” the CFC post states.
“That one blemish may look like a negative in the standings, but in our eyes it’s the mark of a juggernaut program that isn’t afraid to test themselves against the best of the best and puts their players in an uncomfortable situation where they maybe aren’t the best on the field.”
HTA, provincial champions in 2024, 2022 and 2019, have qualified for five of the past six Alberta finals at its level.
#CFC25 RANKINGS FINAL 🔥➡️ https://t.co/j6XTh5V7XJ
— CanadaFootballChat (@chatfootball) December 5, 2024
Congratulations to Holy Trinity Academy on being named the 2024 #CFC25 Small School National Champions! Also a huge congratulations to Windsor on an incredible comeback victory to claim their first British Columbia AA Varsity… pic.twitter.com/a36g2d0trR
Windsor, Holy Rosary, Alberta’s 3A provincial champions based out of Lloydminster, Carlton, Dalbe-Viau, Vernon, Holy Cross, Bishop J. Mahoney, Tec Voc and Deux-Montagnes round out the Top-10.
It was a strong year for Alberta at all levels.
Harry Ainlay, Edmonton's 5A provincial champions at the expense of Raymond, was named the CFC50 national champions. It’s the first time an Alberta team has earned the accomplishment since 2015.
For more information, go canadafootballchat.com.
