Tyson Taylor
sports@pqbnews.com
Two members of the Ballenas Whalers were down in Texas taking part in the Army All-American Bowl Week over the holidays.
Brock Mould and Nick Cessford were named to the Under 18 Team B.C. squad that earned the right to play in Texas in the international portion of this week’s festivities. It’s the second straight year that the U-18 team from B.C. made the trip south to take part in the football showcase in San Antonio, Texas.
Team B.C., originally slated to take part in two games, were relegated to just the one game as their first game was turned into a “controlled scrimmage” due to unforeseen circumstances. Eligibility was a concern for a number of players on the San Antonio East team that were slated to play against Team B.C. There are rules in place, which allow only a certain amount of games to be played by a high school player once their high school season is finished.
Mould, a Grade 12 student, is one of four players returning to the Team B.C. roster from last year. Joining Mould on Team B.C. is fellow Whaler standout Cessford, a Grade 11 student. Both Mould and Cessford had good years with the Whalers this past season.
There were plenty of scouts on hand from both sides of the border to watch as the boys looked to make a name for themselves and grab some of the spotlight in hopes of landing a scholarship opportunity to continue their football careers.
In the only official game Team B.C. played, they went up against a team from Europe and managed to come out on top in a 45-7 blowout. Team Europe scored the first points of the game and then it was all Team B.C. from there, scoring 45 unanswered points to close out the game.
All in all, it was a good experience for the team to showcase their talents in Texas but would have been a bit more fun had they got to play a real game against the Americans.
“I think this year’s team had the same amount of commitment and competitive spirit as last year’s team. We might have had some tough players that didn’t make it on the roster because of other issues but our kids came to play. We’d like to have played the Americans in a full game. Not getting to play them was disappointing,” said Team B.C. head coach Tom Kudaba, who also coaches the Terry Fox Ravens out of Port Coquitlam.
