‘Road to Alberta Bowl’ in Red Deer continues this weekend, Hunting Hills still in it

The ‘Road to the Alberta Bowl’ in Red Deer on Nov. 24-25 continues this weekend, and a local team remains in the running.

Tier II (school pop. 750-1,249) will feature the #3 Hunting Hills Lightning out of Red Deer hosting the Edmonton-based #5 Austin O’Brien Crusaders in the Northern Final.

Kick-off is 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18, from Setters Field at Great Chief Park in Red Deer.

Football Alberta preview: Normally, teams at the Tier II level play the usual suspects over and over in the first two rounds but not so much this year. The Austin O’Brien Crusaders have been in the hunt Provincially at Tier II for decades but never played against their first-round opponent, Cold Lake, until a week ago. This week’s opponent isn’t any more familiar despite the fact that Hunting Hills has been a regular participant in the post season for two decades. Hunting Hills was on the north side of the draw in 2005 but since that time, whenever they have qualified, they were placed on the south side of the draw. That side of the draw was also kryptonite to them when it came to the Southern Final where they advanced to the game six times in the past decade and lost every single time. Perhaps on the North side they can break that curse but standing in their way is a team who has had little problem with this game, particularly last year when they won it to advance to the Alberta Bowl. Either way it will be an entertaining game in Red Deer this Saturday.