Ainlay Titans ranked Top 10 in all-decade football list
If the Harry Ainlay Titans aren't the premier high school football program in Canada right now, then they're certainly among them.
With league play interrupted from coast to coast by COVID-19 this season, player advocate site Canadianfootballchat.com — the force behind last year's CFC Prospects Game — took the opportunity to look back over the past decade and grade the best of the best in a list of the top-50 high-school teams across the country.
And the list, which dropped this week, includes the Titans in the Top 10 “alongside some elite company, according to CFC,” the team posted from its Twitter account Monday. “We are proud to be one of the top public schools in the country when it comes to offering a meaningful experience for our student-athletes and football program to our community.”
The top-three spots went to W.F. Herman out of Windsor, Ont., followed by Hamilton's St. Thomas More, while third place was split between Regina's Dr. Martin Leboldus and Calgary's St. Francis.
Coming in at No. 9 on the list, the Titans are winners of five provincial Tier 1 championships, and have been on a tremendous trajectory since being taken over by former Canadian Football League receiver Brock Ralph in 2014.
Ralph played with the Edmonton Football Team on two occasions over a nine-year playing career. In charge of the Titans offence, Ralph has since handed the title of head coach over to defensive co-ordinator Tyler Greenslade.
The two now have matching Norm Kimball coach-of-the year trophies from Football Alberta, which coincide with each of Ainlay's most recent provincial championships earned from appearances in the last three finals.
The decade began with the Titans earning their first provincial Tier 1 championship in 24 years, taking the 2011 title over Raymond, who had won it the previous three years and were looking to become the first Alberta school to make it four in a row.
And it ended the same way it began, with their third provincial championship in nine years.