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Vancouver Island football players hit next level

A number of Island high school football players will be taking their talent to the Canadian Interuniversity Sports level next season, led by the Mount Douglas Rams who will move on six more graduates to the next level.

 

A number of Island high school football players will be taking their talent to the Canadian Interuniversity Sports level next season, led by the Mount Douglas Rams who will move on six more graduates to the next level.

Joe Clarke (Regina), Seye Farinu (Calgary), Easton Garard (Manitoba), Byron MacKinnon (Guelph), Morgan Pearse (Mount Allison) and Pato Vega (Simon Fraser) will all make the jump to university football.

“It comes on the heels of nine players who moved on last year,” said Rams head coach Mark Townsend. “To have six more this year is fantastic. It’s what this is all about. The reason I love to coach is helping them achieve their scholastic goals.”

The six enjoyed another solid season as the Rams qualified for their fourth straight triple-A Subway Bowl, losing it for the first time.

“For me it was a pretty easy decision,” MacKinnon said of heading to Guelph. “When I got out there, I felt like I fit in. It felt like a second home to me.”

And MacKinnon will get a chance to play defensive end, as he did at Mount Douglas.

“The defence they run seems to fit me as well,” he said of head coach Stu Lang’s program.

Belmont’s Court Boice and Edgar Nelson will also move on to Alberta and UBC, respectively, after being courted by numerous schools. Tristan Forish (UBC) and Sam Varao (Regina) graduated from the Bulldogs’ program the year previous.

Two other Bulldogs, Josh Tipton and Matt Pastro, have elected to play one year of junior with the Westshore Rebels before hopefully moving on to CIS play with Alberta also exhibiting interest in Pastro.

“It shows that they’re really starting to believe that they can leverage their passion for football into future opportunities and I’m proud of them for that,” Rebels head coach J.C. Boice, an assistant at Belmont, said.

“They’re doing their work and I think there is a pretty strong commitment from the school with administrators contacting the coaching staff, saying, ‘This is really good. How do we further promote that and build on that?’ I think with the new school, you’ll start seeing a lot of other kids coming along as well.”

Central Island also saw players advance with Nanaimo District’s Malik Besseghieur and Jeremie Chang gobbled up by Western Ontario and the University of Calgary, respectively.

“Malik is very, very fast with good hands and great lateral movement,” coach Nate Stevenson said of his receiver prospect who acquired a full scholarship to the prominent school. “Jeremie is an undersized fella with a big heart who gives you big effort every time.”

Chang was a runningback/linebacker at Nanaimo, but will likely play defensive back at Calgary.

Stevenson’s brother, Rob Stevenson — the coach at John Barsby in Nanaimo, where the Bulldogs have won back-to-back double-A B.C. titles — also has linebacker/tight end Tyler Hill attending Acadia University.

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com

Twitter/tc_vicsports