The Sturgeon Spirits high school football team is your 2022 Gilfillan division champions.
The Spirits completed their perfect season on Saturday (Nov. 5) after defeating the St. Albert Skyhawks by a score of 28-0 at Commonwealth Stadium.
The game was tight going into the half, with the Spirits only leading 7-0, but Sturgeon head coach, Chad Hill, says his team was able to pull away as the game went on.
"In the second half, we did what we do," said Hill. "We dictated the pace both offensively and defensively."
Late in the third quarter, Riley Mulligan of the Spirits blocked a punt attempt and returned it for a touchdown to give Sturgeon a 13-0 lead late in the game.
Hill says this was a critical moment in the game.
"You could really see that the wheels fell off [for St. Albert]," said Hill. "We've given up 10 points all year and we aren't going to surrender 14 points in the fourth quarter of the championship game."
Hill was right, as the team cruised to a dominant win that gave Sturgeon their first-ever championship title since they joined the league in 2018.
Fort Saskatchewan native, Devlin Freemont, was spectacular with the team capturing an interception and touchdown in the win.
This year's team was fighting adversity from last season, having lost 2021 final. Hill says they dubbed this year as Sturgeon's 'revenge tour'.
"All these guys were part of that heartbreaking loss last year and that fueled them and motivated them," said Hill. "We never had a bad game, maybe we had a quarter here or there that was sloppy, but we didn't have a stinker of a game because of the focus our boys had."
"They went out [on Saturday] and won the game."
That revenge tour isn't quite over yet. While the team will celebrate the championship accordingly, they still have provincials to worry about this weekend.
The Spirits will head to Whitecourt for round one on Saturday (Nov. 12) and the hope is that they can get a rematch with the Holy Rosary Raiders from Lloydminster, who knocked them out in the North Finals the last two times.
"We have realistic expectations for provincials this year," said Hill. "We know we are a better team and that we can go on a deep run this year."