Elimination football begins this week in the high school ranks.
The Holy Trinity Academy Knights and Foothills Falcons hit the road for provincial playoff matchups with HTA looking to ground the Springbank Phoenix in Cochrane and the Comp hoping to corral the George McDougall Mustangs in Calgary.
The Knights opened their playoffs at home with a lopsided 50-0 result over the Strathmore Spartans on Oct. 26. HTA had 306 yards rushing in the win.
“The boys played really well,” said Knights head coach Matt Hassett. “We just tried to get on track and not have to show too much for future weeks so we were able to do that and then it started to get a little chippy so we got some of the starters out pretty early in the second half.”
The regional clash was supposed to take place in Cochrane, but was moved with the town under a state of emergency, with HTA’s field crew putting in a Herculean effort to get the grass field in playable condition on Thursday.
“It made it for a mad scramble to get the field ready,” he said. “It was a big group effort. The Kuntz family stepped up and did a lot of work, the day of they were there from 8 a.m. until like 2, just dragging it and moving stuff off of it.”
The Phoenix upended the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers in overtime to earn the second Rocky View seed in the postseason.
Leading the Phoenix behind centre is quarterback Cooper Dickenson, the son of Calgary Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson.
The match is slated for Nov. 3 at 2 p.m. at Cochrane High, the first of a triple-header on the turf field. The winning team moves through to the Tier II provincial quarter-final.
For the Falcons, a Saturday trip to Shouldice Park is on deck versus a team new to the Tier I ranks.
The eighth-ranked Foothills and No. 4 ranked Mustangs clash on Nov. 4, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Stampeders Field, with the Airdrie school fresh off its second win of the season over the Cochrane Cobras for the Rocky View division championship.
The Falcons were downed 48-0 on the road by the powerhouse Raymond Comets last Friday in an exhibition match to end the regular season with a 4-3-1 mark.
