North Edmonton Minor Football Association

The 3-1 Edmonton Seahawks faced off against the 3-1 Parkland Predators in a thriller Saturday afternoon at Clarke Stadium.

The Seahawks big D-line would bring the pressure early and force the Predators to a turnover on downs on their first possession of the game. The Seahawks offense would take over on the Predators 49-yard line and complete a 7 play 61-yard drive with a 3 yard run by #35 Mathew Olivo to take a 7-0 lead.

The Seahawks defense would continue to stall the predators drives with two interceptions by #80 Caleb Olsen and one by #34 Desmond Newman. Penalties on a punt would pin the Seahawks deep in their own end and the Predators would capitalize and score to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:51 to go in the half.

The Seahawks would strike one more time before the half with a 7-yard run by #35 Mathew Olivo to go ahead 14-7.

The second half started with a couple two and outs with the Predators punting into the Seahawks end zone for a single. The Seahawks would take over on the 35 but would be stopped and forced to punt once again. They would take a holding penalty on the punt giving the Predators good field position. The Predators would make the Hawks pay and score quickly to take the lead 15-14 with 3:34 to go in the 3rd.

The Predators defense would force the Seahawks to a turnover on downs and strike quickly with a 48-yard pass and run that would be negated by a holding call. Two plays later they would complete a 45-yard passing play for the touchdown to go ahead 22-14 with 10:21 left in the 4th quarter.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Seahawks would recover the short kick. The next play would be a 60-yard pass and run for a touchdown that would be called back due to a holding call. The Hawks would continue marching down the field but would be stopped short and turn over the ball. The defense would force a Predators punt that would be blocked by #65 Mikhail Biggs and go through the end zone. The Seahawks would give the ball to #35 Mathew Olivo once again and he would break out for a 52-yard run for his third touchdown of the game. Seahawks would now lead 23-22 with 2:42 left in the game.

The Predators would answer with a drive aided by Seahawk penalties to punch in a 1-yard run to take a 28-23 lead with 36.2 seconds left on the clock.

A penalty on the kick off would put the Seahawks on their own 15-yard line with 36.2 seconds to score. Quarterback Derek Kucharski would need to take his Seahawks 95-yards in 36 seconds. He would hit #11 Seeraj Halabi with a 15-yard pass to the sideline to stop the clock and get a 1st down. He would then use play action and roll out to hit #18 Jeremy Eashappie for a 30-yard pass and run out of bounds stopping the clock again. A pitch to fullback #30 Logan Kosedy would be stopped for no gain and in bounds. The Seahawks would use their final timeout leaving 15 seconds on the clock. With time running out Derek dropped back and threw a strike to #80 Caleb Olsen who hauled it in for a 53-yard pass and run touchdown to give the Seahawks a 30-28 lead with just 1.7 seconds on the clock.

The Predators would recover the kick and have one last shot with 1 second on the clock. The quarterback would drop back for a Hail Mary pass but was tracked down and sacked to end the game by #57 Devon Menard.  

With the win, the Seahawks move to 4-1 and the loss drops the Predators to a 3-2 record after 5 weeks of play in the CDMFA Midget Spring league.

The Seahawks are back on the field May 5, 2018, for the final game of the season against the Ft. McMurray Ravens at Clarke Stadium Kick-off 6:30 PM.