Falcons wheel up to Audubon

Posted: 09/28/2006 - by

The St. Albert football team showed some flashes of excellence in the second half of last week's 33-7 victory over Griswold.

After trailing 7-6 at the break, the Falcons quickly turned up the juice and outscored the Tigers 26-0 in the second half.

"The kids started playing with a lot more emotion," St. Albert coach Jim Duggan said. "When you can do that, some pretty good things can happen."

The Falcons are looking to keep that momentum going into this week's game, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Audubon.

A pair of big catches by Chad Belt, one for a touchdown on a botched field goal attempt, and the other was an interception that Belt ran to the 20, helped the Falcons pull away.

The interception was one of six second-half turnovers by Griswold in the game, while the other big moment came late in the first half with a big goal line stand by the Falcon defense.

"The turnovers were big," Duggan said. "A lot of the turnovers were forced turnovers ... they were putting the pads on them pretty hard and that gave us some opportunities."

Offensively Jeremy Schieffer scored two touchdowns on runs of 45 and 85 yards and finished with 147 yards on 15 carries.

Duggan shared some of the offensive praise to the team's line, including guard Chris McKenzie, who returned after an injury the week before, and sophomore center Lee Mass.

"Our offensive line has had a good week of practice," Duggan said.

The Wheelers are 2-0 in the district with a pair of shut out wins over Corning (14-0) and Panorama (7-0).

While the Wheelers haven't been bullish on offense in district play, last week's win over Corning saw Randy Spies, normally a wide receiver, fill in for inured starter Matt McLaughlin at quarterback and complete two touchdown passes in the victory, showing off the team's depth.

McLaughlin is the district's leading passer and combined for 364 yards passing and running in the season opener against West Central Valley.

While it might be a little early to start talking playoffs, the win last week helped put the Falcons back into the mix for the postseason. With Logan-Magnolia and Audubon atop the Class 1A District 1 standings at 2-0, a victory Friday would put the Falcons tied for the second spot with the tiebreaker over Griswold and Audubon.

Underwood and Riverside are also 1-1 and square off this week at Underwood.

"Every game is big for us now," Duggan said. "There are some pretty dang good teams left to play."

Duggan wasn't too interested in looking forward at the playoff hunt with the team entering the midway point of the season.

"We just have to take things one game at a time," he said. 'The kids just have to focus on that - one practice at a time, one play at a time."

Quick Hits

Who: St. Albert (1-1, 2-2) vs. Audubon (2-0, 3-1) in a 1A District 1 football game.

When: Friday at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Audubon Field.

Directions: Take I-80 East to Exit 60. Travel north on Highway 71 for roughly 16 miles. The field is on the right and near the entrance of the town. Albert The Bull stands near the entrance to the stadium and can be seen from the road.

On the Web: www.stalbertsportsfan.com.

What to watch for: St. Albert played perhaps its best half to date, outscoring Griswold 26-0 after the intermission last week to improve its district record to 1-1.

Audubon is 3-1 and 2-0 in the district. Quarterback Matt McLaughlin is a double threat with his passing and running, but was injured and missed last week's game. Randy Spies filled in with a pair of touchdown passes in the victory.

There is still a lot of football left, but Friday's game will go a long way for determining the playoff qualifiers in Class 1A District 1.

~Jeff Deluca~ Daily Nonpareil 09.28.06

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