There's no shortage of Central Alberta flavour on what Football Alberta is calling the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year”.
Saturday, there will be 20 games at the high school level and 11 at the Minor Football level.
In Red Deer, the 3A Northern semi-finals will feature the H.J. Cody Lakers taking on the Holy Rosary Raiders at 4 p.m. at Great Chief Park. After Holy Rosary moved to from Tier IV to Tier III in 2015, these two programs met in the first round in five consecutive seasons. Unfortunately for the Lakers, they were all Raiders victories.
This season has seen the Raiders ran the table, while the Lakers had a respectable showing in the Central Alberta league dropping a tough 17-10 decision to 4A Hunting Hills in the semi-finals but winning handily over 5A Lindsay Thurber in the 3rd Place Game this past Saturday. It was 2021 the last time these two programs met.
Both the Notre Dame Cougars and Hunting Hills Lightning will face tough tests on the road in their respective provincial playoffs. The Cougars will face the top-ranked Harry Ainlay Titans in the 5A quarterfinals at the Jasper Place Bowl in Edmonton on Saturday. The Titans run through the season saw them outscore their opponents by an average score of 50-6, with no team other than Raymond in Week #1 coming within two scores of them. The Cougars are undefeated on the season as well and should provide a good test for the Titans.
The Lightning will travel to Cold Lake to take on the Royals on Saturday afternoon in the 4A Northern semifinals. The Royals are unranked and finished 1-5 on the year, but four of those losses have been to defending Provincial Champions in their league – St. Paul and Holy Rosary who have both qualified for this year’s Provincials at the 3A level.
At ME Global Athletic Park in Lacombe, football fans can see a pair of Peewee (11-12-year-old) games. The Strathcona Wolverines will play the Sylvan Lake Bears at 1:30 p.m. in the Tier I final, while the Red Deer Bucks will battle the West Edmonton Raiders in the Tier II Final at 11 a.m.
In Bantam 9-a-side, the Ponoka Broncs will host the Taber Rebels at the Ponoka Secondary field at 2 p.m. In Bantam 12-a-side action, the Hunting Hills Lighting will travel to Medicine Hat to take on the Brooks Roadrunners in the Tier II final.
In the 6-a-side quarterfinals, the sixth ranked Rimbey Spartans will take on the Holy Redeemer Rebels in Edson.
In the 9-a-side high school quarterfinals, the Ponoka Broncs will travel to Whitecourt to take on the Cats.
