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The 2008 Alberta Football League All-Star teams were announced over the weekend! 

 

Congratulations to THREE Buccaneers who were chosen by their peers for an outstanding season! 

 

Dave Henderson is a 2nd Team All-Star at Defensive End.

 

Kerry Lynch picked up a 2nd Team All-Star for Defensive Tackle.

 

Kenton Poelzer was honored as 2nd team All Star at Tail Back.

 

Poelzer was also a 2nd team All-Star at Punt Returner.

 

Great Job Bucs!

 

 

The 7th Annual Red Deer Buccaneers Awards Banquet was held at the Legion on Friday night.  Great food and great times were had by all.  Congratulations to our Award winners!  Hope you all come back next year!

Award Winners

Volunteer of the Year: Shauna - Henderson's sister

Bucs Pride Award:  Mike Matheson

Rookie of the Year: Kenton Poelzer

Higher Level Award:  Maroun Costantine

Special teams Player of the Year: Marc Bartolf

MVP w/ Least Recognition: Brad Smith

Offensive Lineman of the Year: Chris Wallbaum

Defensive Lineman of the Year: Kerry Lynch

Offensive Player of the Year: Kenton Poelzer

Defensive Player of the Year: Darren Strohschein

Most Valuable Player:  Kenton Poelzer

 

A special award for long-time service and dedication went to Jim Claggett for being the heart and soul of the team for all 7 years of the franchise!

Special thanks to Rory Watson for custom designing the 2008 awards.  They kick butt! 

More more award pics go to our Photos Page.
Former Red Deer Buccaneers make the University of Alberta Golden Bears!  Mike Clarkson, Matt Merkley and Cody Baird are representing the Bucs in the CIS this year!  Clarkson (#74) played this past weekend's entire game vs Simon Fraser University and WON 25-13.  Congrats to Mike, Matt and Cody!  Keep it up this season!  We'll be watching every chance we get!
With 95 yards and 1 TD on 7 carries and 120 yards and 2 TD's on 4 catches, TB Kenton Poelzer has been named Alberta Football League Offensive Player of the Week to wrap up the regular season in week #9.  This goes along with Poelzer's Special Teams Player of the Week honor from week #1 as the only Buccaneers player to capture the honors in the 2008 football season.  Congratulations, Kenton! 

The Buccaneers BEST offensive output of the season was ruined with a 4th quarter collapse of apocalyptic proportions! 

 

The Bucs put up 35 points,  425 yards of offence, 3 TD passes and hit all 5 convert attempts - all season bests - on route to a 35-18 lead with only 6 minutes remaining in the game. 

 

Then one bad decision ended all of it. 

 

The games momentum changed in an instant when QB Greg Thompson decided to NOT run a play called in from the bench to give up a 2-point safety on a 3rd and 10 from the Bucs own 4 yard line.  Thompson instead opted to gamble on a pass to WR Adam Donovan.  The pass was high and out of bounds and the Drillers took over on the Bucs 4 yard line. 

 

Two plays later Grande Prairie quarterback Nathan Aldred connected with Donald Jones on a five-yard touchdown pass.

 

A perfectly executed on-side kick and brilliant one-handed catch by James Kostuk followed.  Then Aldred hit a wide open Brent Fulmek behind the Red Deer defence for a 46-yard touchdown.

 

The Grande Prairie defence held on the next Red Deer possession and then Aldred hit Jones in the middle of the field.  Jones broke several tackles an his way to a 32-yard touchdown. 

 

On the Bucs next possession, Thompson tossed an interception with 44 seconds left to seal their fate.  

 

The loss was NOT without it's positives!  QB Greg Thompson was 12 of 20 for 260 yards 3 TD's 3 INT's and 0 sacks.  TB Kenton Poelzer had 95 yards and a TD on 7 rushing attempts as well as 120 yards and 2 TD's on 4 catches!  FB Brad Smith had 56 yards on 8 carries and rookie TB Ian Keetch had 2 carries for 14 yards and 1 TD!  Marc Bartolf had another solid game with 3 catches for 45 yards and 1 TD while FB Kyle Makila had a brilliant 30 yard catch and run play.   

DT Kerry Lynch was again dominant with 4 solo tackles including 1 sack.  LB Riley Quance had 3 solo tackles and 1 sack.  CB Keegan Poelzer had 3 solo tackles, 1 assisted and 2 knockdowns.  WR Mike Matheson also had his first special teams tackle on the season! 

The loss leaves the Bucs OUT of the playoffs for the 3rd year in a row. 

The Bucs Offence woke up in a BIG way on Saturday night registering 435 yards of offence in a 13-0 victory over the visiting Edmonton Seahawks.  QB Greg Thompson was 15 of 24 for 217 yards 1 TD,  3 INT's and a sack.  Andrew Stannix was 0 for 2 and Jamie Blinkhorn was 1 of 1 for 15 yards.  Running Back Brad Smith (pictured above) carried most of the load with 13 carries for 91 yards.  Kenton Poelzer wasn't far behind with 11 carries for 78 yards and a touchdown.  Poelzer also led all receivers with 5 catches for 97 yards and 1 touchdown.  Marc Bartolf had 3 catches for 53 yards.  Although the offence moved the ball well, there were still several miscues that would have led to Bucs points including a dropped TD pass and 2 missed field goals against a strong Seahawk defence.  However, the stage has been set for MORE offensive success. 

The Buccaneers defence dominated with 7 sacks on the day, a fumble recovery and several punishing hits on receivers.  DT's Kerry Lynch and Matt Vandale led the way combining for 3 sacks each!  DE Dave Henderson had a sack, knockdown and fumble recovery.  LB Riley Quance had 3 solo and 2 assisted tackles while LB Cody Baird had 1 solo and 4 assisted tackles. Safety Darren Strohschein dished out several intimidating hits over the middle and had a pair of knockdowns.

 

The Buccaneers are still very much in the playoff picture.  It's simple.  Win and they're in. 

 

DO NOT MISS the Bucs LAST home game of the season vs the Grande Prairie Drillers.

Saturday August 16th

6:00pm Great Chief Park, Red Deer!

The Bucs floundering ship has sent an S.O.S to the rest of the league!  After an embarrassing 41-0 loss to the Lloydminster Vandals on Saturday afternoon, the Bucs will need some help to get into the playoffs this season.  They are currently 2 points behind the Calgary Gators for the final playoff spot in the Alberta Football League standings.  But the Bucs have the tie-break because of the opening season victory against the Gators should the teams have the same win/loss records at the end of the season.  If the Gators win only 1 of their last 2 games of the year, the Bucs need to win their last 2.  Any way you look at it, the Bucs will be the biggest Drillers and Wolfpack fans (The Gators final 2 opponents) to wrap up the season...  

 

But the Bucs have bigger concerns...

After a strong and gutsy performance against the Wolfpack 2 weeks ago, a road trip to Lloydminster held some promise.  However, another impotent output from the offence sealed the Bucs fate in the clash with the Vandals on Saturday.  With only 250 yards of total offence, the Bucs moved the ball well between the 30-yard lines, only to come up short every time.  QB Greg Thompson  was 15 of 31 for 134 yards 1 INT and 1 Sack.  TB Kenton Poelzer had 12 carries for 79 yards.  FB Brad Smith had 1 carry for 2 yards and 4 catches for 46 yards.  Late in the Game QB Andrew Stannix was 1 of 3 for 1 yard and had 2 carries for 24 yards. 

Defensively, SS Darren Strohschein had his best game of the season with 4 solo and 1 assisted tackles with 2 Interceptions for 34 yards.  CB Shaun Jardin also played well with 3 solo tackles and covered receivers effectively most of the afternoon. 

 

  The Bucs have 2 weeks off before a 2-game home stand which will decide their play-off fate.  August 9th against the last-place Edmonton Seahawks and August  16th against the Grande Prairie Drillers.

 

The Calgary Wolfpack will host the Edmonton Stallions in RED DEER at Great Chief Park on Saturday July 26th at 6:00pm!
The Red Deer Buccaneers saw their record slip to 1-3 in the Alberta Football League Saturday, but there were more positives than negatives in a 20-9 loss to the Calgary Wolfpack at Great Chief Park. “Obviously I’m disappointed, but that was a gutsy performance, probably our best in the last year and a half,” said Buccaneers head coach Dave Hanni. “We’ve never defeated that team in seven years. We feel they’re still the best team in the league and we were right with them.” The Bucs actually held a 9-7 lead after three quarters thanks to a one-yard run by quarterback Greg Thompson. However, the Wolfpack dominated the fourth quarter to run their record to 3-1. “It was a game we could have won,” added Hanni. “We were right there, but made a few mistakes, dropped a couple of passes and that did us in.” But the Wolfpack were also given full marks for the win as quarterback Darryl Leason was able to move the ball when needed in the final 15 minutes. Place kicker Tom Dixon, who played for the Ottawa Roughriders, kicked a 28-yard field goal at 4:28 of the fourth quarter to put the Wolfpack up for good. Leason then hooked up with his brother Mike on a nine-yard touchdown toss at 10:58 to all but put the game away. Dixon added the convert and kicked a 41-yard field goal at 14:30 to salt away the victory. After a scoreless opening quarter the Leason brothers hooked up for the game’s first major early in the second quarter with Mike hauling in the pass from Darryl. Jamie Blinkhorn kicked a field goal for the Buccaneers and the Calgary crew led 7-3 at the half. Red Deer then put together their most impressive series of plays in the game late in the third quarter. First they got a piece of a Dixon field goal attempt and then were able to return the ball out of the end zone putting it on the Red Deer 20. Thompson then connected with Jordan White on a an 85 yard pass and run play, putting the ball on the Calgary five. Two plays later Thompson went around end for the score. Overall Red Deer special teams were solid, blocking a pair of field goals and proving blanket coverage on punts. The Red Deer running game was anything but impressive as they finished with 51 yards — 33 by Brad Smith on seven carries. Thompson hit on 10 of 27 pass attempts for 209 yards. Blinkhorn grabbed four passes for 49 yards.Defensively Curtis Dreger finished with nine tackles while Riley Quance had seven and Kerry Lynch and Clayton McAreavy six each.

The Bucs travel to Lloydminster on July 19 to face the Vandals and host the Edmonton Seahawks Aug. 9 and Grande Prairie Aug. 16 to finish their schedule.

Contact Danny Rode at drode@reddeeradvocate.com

After a hard-fought loss a week ago where the Bucs were in the game til the very end...the exact opposite happened on Saturday night in Edmonton.  The host Stallions had control of the game from the start and pounded the Buccaneers 50 - 0 at Foote Field.  In the fist quarter, the Bucs Defence stepped it up and stopped the Stallions on a 3rd and goal gamble to force a turnover on their own 1 yard line.  Two plays later Bucs TB Kenton Poelzer fumbled the ball in the endzone and a Stallions defender jumped on the loose ball for a touchdown.  The ensuing kickoff went for a single and Red Deer was down 8 -0 early.  Both teams then traded possessions a few times until the Stallions again found themselves in the Bucs red zone.  A blown coverage resulted in a Stallions touchdown pass.  In the 2nd quarter, a mis-handled punt return put the Bucs DEEP in their own end and unable to move the ball.  The Stallions retained possession and scored a short TD run, then short kicked and recovered their kick off to get great field position.  The defence got the ball back and the offence finally started to click, but didn't get into the red zone for any opportunity to score.  Then, back to back blown coverages resulted in another Stallions TD pass with under a minute to go in the half.  The half ended 29-0 in favor of Edmonton.  The second half didn't go much better.  Bucs QB Greg Thompson served up back to back INT's on the Bucs first 2 possessions of the half. The first one was returned 50 yards for a TD.  Late in the quarter, an exhausted defence gave up a QB rushing TD and late in the 4th another TD run. 

The lone bright spot for the Bucs was when back-up QB Andrew Stannix drove the team 55 yards into the Stallions red zone, only to have kicker Chris Harden miss a 35-yard field goal attempt. 

       

STATS

QB Greg Thompson had a great first half taking what was given to him and moved the ball well for a while.  Thompson finished up  the day going 8 of 18 for 75 yards, 2 INT's. 

QB Andrew Stannix was 2 of 4 for 40 yards. 

TB Kenton Poelzer had 9 carries for 47 yards and 1 fumble, 2 catches for 24 yards and 2 punt returns for -5 yards and 2 fumbles.   

 

Defensively, LB Riley Quance had 5 solo and 5 assisted tackles.   DE Dave Henderson had 3 solo and 5 assisted tackles, 2 tackles for losses and 1 sack.  DE's Murray Greer and Kevin Waldo also had 1 sack each and DT Kerry Lynch And DE Chris Grudeski combined for another sack.  

 

The Bucs get a weekend off, and then play back at HOME for the first time in a month against the Calgary Wolfpack, Saturday July 5th, 6:00pm at Great Chief Park. 

The Red Deer Buccaneers went toe to toe with a big, strong, talented and well-coached Parkland Panthers squad on Saturday night, but missed opportunities did them in as they lost 29-8 in Spruce Grove.  The Panthers drew first blood and a pounding, methodical rushing drive to make it 7-0 early in the game.  They were driving deep into Bucs territory again, but the Bucs Defence came up big a with a 3rd and Goal stuff and turned the ball over to end the quarter.  Then, the fist play of the second quarter saw QB Josh Achtemichuk hit TB Kenton Poelzer in stride for a 109 yard touchdown pass!  S/K Chris Harden made the PAT to tie it up at 7-7.  After a long battle in the second quarter, the Panthers added another rushing TD and a missed Field Goal single to end the half ahead by a 15-7 score.  The Panthers got another rushing TD and rouge in the 3rd, while the Bucs couldn't convert inside the 20 and registered a missed field goal single for themselves.  The 4th quarter was, again, back and forth, with the Bucs making several key plays to get to the Panther's 1 yard line on two different occasions, but miscues in the red zone kept the Bucs off the scoreboard.  The Panthers added another rushing TD on the last play of the game to seal the victory at 29-8.          

STATS

Achtemichuk had a solid game going 13 of 26 for 239 yards 1 TD and 1 INT. 

Poelzer had 10 carries for 46 yards, 3 catches for 148 yards and 1 TD.  He also had 3 kick-off returns for 25 yards and lost a fumble.

SB Josh Sorensen and FB Travis Clarkson were chain moving-machines getting 10-yard gains every time they touched the ball! 

 

Defensively, the Bucs Cornerbacks had huge games!  Shaun Jardine had 5 solo, 1 assisted tackle and blocked field goal, while rookie Keegan Poelzer had 6 solo and 2 assisted tackles with 1 tackle for a loss and 1 knockdown.  DT Kerry Lynch was a warrior in the middle with 5 solo tackles and DE Dave Henderson had 4 solo and 4 assisted tackles 1 knockdown and 1 forced fumble.

 

Next action for the Bucs is Saturday June 21st at the Edmonton Stallions.  Game time 6:00pm at Foote Field.  

The rain stayed away long enough for the Bucs to be allowed to play, but right after kickoff, the sky poured on their home opener against the Calgary Gators Saturday night.  With wet conditions, neither team could manage much offence to start.  The Bucs opened the scoring when TB Kenton Poelzer returned a Gator punt 69 yards for a TD.  The Gators answered with a TD pass in the first quarter along with 2 field goals.  Poelzer got the crowd back into it with a 75 yard scamper for another TD (PAT failed)and Bucs S/K Chris Harden chipped in a field goal from 27 yards out just before the half to give the Bucs a 16 to 13 lead.  The Gators tied things up with another field goal in the third quarter.  Then QB Josh Achtemichuk hooked up with WR Adam Donovan for a 38 yard touchdown pass.  The PAT failed.  Late in the 4th Achtemichuk punted the ball with SB Corey Pusey and HB Jeremy Makila making the tackle in the endzone for a single.  The Bucs defence then shut down the Gators long passing attempts to hold on for the victory! 

Stats

Achtemichuk was 7 of 11 for 66 yards 1 TD, 0 INT.  Poelzer had 14 carries for 155 yards and 1 TD.  Poelzer also had 4 Punt returns for 87 yards and a TD.  Defensively LB Curtis Dreger had 4 solo and 7 assisted tackles while LB Riley Quance had 1 solo and 12 assisted tackles.  The Bucs D also had an INT and a fumble recovery.

 

Next action for the Bucs is Saturday June 14th against the expansion Parkland Panthers in Spruce Grove.  7:00pm