The Alberta Football League is suddenly turning into a game of keeping up with the Joneses.
In an effort to keep up with the Northern Football Conference — the Ontario entrant into the Canadian senior football scene who the Alberta champ meets and usually loses to in the national championship game — the AFL has realized it needs to up its game to stay relevant.
The Calgary Gators dropped the gauntlet in a big way this off-season by talking key players from the arch-rival Calgary Wolfpack to trade in their purple and black jerseys for silver and black, including star quarterback Darryl Leason and his receiver brother Mike Leason. They didn’t stop there, bringing in a number of top recruits including 2013 Hec Crieghton Award winning quarterback Jordan Heather and his brother, whom he played with at Bishops University Nathan Heather, among many others. The Gators use both quarterbacks in two different rotating offensive systems.
This is their aim at a super team.
The Central Alberta Buccaneers, meanwhile are doing their best to keep up. The goal is a better football league all the way around.
“It’s turned into a recruiter’s league,” said Bucs new head coach Devon Hand. “It’s definitely not a back yard league where guys can just show up and play, it’s definitely getting more competitive every year.”
Hand built arguably the AFL’s top defence in his two season as defensive coordinator. But he added to an already stout unit with players like St. Francis Xavier grads defensive back Shane Nolan and defensive end Devon Marshall, University of Windsor linebacker Nick Leondakis and defensive back Ryan Miller who was a standout with the Hamilton Steel City Patriots of the NFC.
Miller, 26, was also his team’s de facto defensive coordinator, but has found a home at safety in the Buccaneers secondary.
“Our team captain Mark Fay actually moved to defensive half back this year so I could play safety, just the fact that a player is willing to switch positions for a new guy coming in says a lot,” said Miller, who was lured out to Red Deer for work. “That welcoming was very nice.”
He played a big role in helping the Buccaneers shutout the defending champion but rebuilding Calgary Wolfpack in the season opener on Sunday, saying it was a step down in pace to what he is used to in the NFC.
“As far as the speed and the tempo, it was a little bit slower than in Ontario,” said Miller. “I know this league, the Gators have recruited a lot and Fort Mac has a lot of guys from Montreal that has won the national championship the last two years, and I know this teams has brought in some guys ... so the temp is definitely going to be picking up.”
The Buccaneers do return a number of top players on defence, including Fay, Dave Henderson, Kerry Lynch, Ben Rush and Cody Baird, but they are also hoping some of their young guys take the next step in their development this year.
“(Cornerback) Tylor Johanesson is a guy who has really matured and grown into his role as a play maker on the back end,” said Hand. “Linebacker Dustin Bomback is a guy that it up and coming and will be good for a long time if he continues to play the way that he is.”
Offence was the Achillies’ heel for the Bucs last season. Quite simply, they struggled to put points on the board consistently, sputtering under an assortment of quarterbacks and conservative play calling.
Much of that has been revamped with new offensive coordinator Aaron Shepard and an assortment of new weapons and players to augment the likes of running back Junior Rivera and top receiver Matt Merkley.
Most importantly, the Bucs believe they have an answer at quarterback in Quebec import Pascal Plante who spent the last two seasons playing in the NFC, including last year with the Sault Ste. Marie Steelers. He starred with the now defunct South Shore Monarx of the Quebec Junior Football League before moving on to senior ball.
If he falters, Jamie Fox, another newcomer from B.C., ready to step in as he did against the Wolfpack, putting three touchdowns on the board.
“(Plante) says he can play every position, that’s his thing, he can literally play receiver, he can punt , he’s played safety before, outside linebacker, so he really is an athlete playing the quarterback position,” said Hand. ‘That being said, he has all of the intangibles you want in a quarterback.”
Plante measures in at six-foot-five, 210 pounds, he can run the ball and has a rocket arm. But he nearly hobbled away from the game after last year after injuring his MCL, until Hand talked him into coming out West.
He will be key to running Shepard’s new offence.
“It’s a pretty good system, nobody plays this system, so I think it’s a good thing because (defences) have never seen this system,” said Plante, 24, noting by playing against the Bucs defence in practice it is making them better. “We’re getting better every week. When we started, the offence wasn’t looking too good because we were playing against the best defence in the league last year and now we can compete with the defence.”
All of these new pieces will get a full test this weekend as they host the Gators in their home opener at 6 p.m. at ME Global Field in Lacombe. But just as they upset the Leasons in last year’s home opener, they are not intimidated by this new Calgary powerhouse.
“We have to be as physical as humanly possible,” said Hand. “We cannot be intimidated by them, we have to go out and set the tone and start out hitting them and hit them all game long so we put the doubt in their mind that they’re in for an actual football game.”