What Chris Cartwright didn’t get a chance to see at the recent six-team Central Okanagan high school football jamboree told him as much as what he did witness during the culmination of a two-week spring training.
“We had a few key guys missing because of other commitments but those who did take part stepped up and met the challenge,” said Cartwright, head coach of the Kelowna Owls. “After watching the boys in these scrimmages, we’re more excited than ever about the depth we’ll have this season.”
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Among the missing for the annual June gridiron gathering at Mar Jok Elementary School in West Kelowna were projected and notable starters Nolan Ulm, Nate Beauchemin, Tariq Brown, Caeleb Schlachter and Colby Miletto.
Ulm, a 6’2” wide receiver/outside linebacker and one of only nine Grade 12 players on the young roster this coming season, was on the road as part of a traveling show of NCAA Div. 1 hopefuls touring the midwest United States.
Grade 11s Brown and Schlachter were at a B.C. U18 provincial football camp while Beauchemin, the starting quarterback for the KSS Owls’ 2018 provincial junior varsity championship team, was nursing an injury. And Miletto, a graduating receiver/defensive back, was displaying his versatility and athleticism at a provincial rugby camp.
But even without that imposing quintet, the Owls impressed Cartwright and his coaching staff to a point that the head coach admitted to having “goosebumps” thinking about the coming season and beyond.
“We’re so excited about all this talent and the chemistry that’s been building during our past four years together,” said Cartwright. “This is a really great group of kids and we believe we can do really great things with it.”
Unlike in past seasons when the Owls reached the provincial AAA quarter-finals with teams very much anchored by exceptional all-around athletes in Taylor Loffler (now with the Montreal Alouettes) and Parker Simson, the current edition will rely more on the its depth.
While the coaches are familiar with both the junior and senior members of the Owls, they’ll be faced with a new but welcome challenge this fall of trying to slot the right talent in the right spots.
“We’ll actually have the nice problem of guys fighting for the same positions,” noted Cartwright. “That kind of competition is definitely a good thing and will drive the kids to be better. They’ll have to reflect more on what they’re doing and we’re looking forward to the opportunity to push them to be the best they can be.”
Much of the spotlight will be on the quarterback situation. Incumbent Isaac Athans matured by leaps and bounds as the main man last season and at the recent jamboree continued to impress as he displayed his leadership and took control of the scaled-down offence.
Being looked at by Canadian universities such as Simon Fraser, McMasters and Carleton, Athans will be pushed by Beauchemin, who as mentioned, was a major reason for the success of the KSS juniors last fall.
But both Athans and Beauchemin are also all-around athletes who, if not calling the signals, will be among the best in the province at another position on offence. Defensively, they’ll patrol the backfield and be in leadership roles there.
“The overall athleticism of the team is over the top,” said Cartwright, referring to the aforementioned personnel and the likes of junior graduates — running back Noah Gross and receivers Aidan Vint, Risto Zimmer and Nick Tonogai. “And that includes our offensive and defensive line — led by Grade 12s Tomas Kuhn, who is also attracting interest from U Sports teams and Easton Schmuland. They’re (linemen) the strongest I’ve seen in the four years I’ve been here. They’re not as big as some of the lines out there, but they’re smart, fast and athletic.”
Despite boasting 16 players from the 2018 provincial junior championship team, the Owls will go into the 2019 B.C. Secondary Schools Association Eastern Conference season ranked No. 8 among AAA teams in B.C. according to a coaches poll conducted by Howard Tsumura at Varsity Letters.
“The teams among the top five and honourable mentions deserve to be there because of their history and what they’ve done recently,” said Cartwright. “But we can see us turning some heads this year and moving up the ladder. We’ll definitely be in the mix.”
The Owls will resume pre-season training Aug. 19 and play their first of two non-conference games Sept. 6 against No. 1-ranked Vancouver College Fighting Irish at the venerable O’Hagan Field. They’ll also play the Rutland Voodoos in a non-conference game Sept. 13 on the artificial turf at CNC.
The junior varsity Owls also took part in the recent jamboree, and although greener than the group of a year ago, it showed promise under new coach Mike Irvine, a graduate of the Kelowna Minor Football Association coaching ranks.
Among those returning from 2018 JV championship team will be quarterback Jaeke Schlachter, Everett Schmuland, Jack Nyrose, Jacob Wojciechowski, Allan Burnell, Evan Fitchett, Michael Kinloch, Jackson Saini and Hunter Trca.
The juniors will begin with their feet to the fire, meeting three of the top teams in the province in Lord Tweedsmuir of Surrey (Sept. 5 at KSS), the Terry Fox Ravens of Port Coquitlam and the New Westminster Hyacks.
Their first conference game is set for Oct. 3 on their home field against the Mt. Boucherie Bears.
The Rutland Voodoos will return to the AAA Pacific Division where they finished with a third-place 6-2 record and led the nine teams in offence with 266 points.
Much of their success was attributed to multi-talented quarterback Jhavoun Blake, who will be moved to running back, where during the recent Jamboree, he stood out as the most dominant offensive threat among the three senior teams.
Liam Attwood will take over as the Voodoos’ QB and is expected to continue his steady improvement with another year’s experience. Also impressing veteran coach Pete McCall were corner/wide receiver Coltin Peterson and safety/slotback Kyron Konkin.
Rutland’s junior varsity team is very young and inexperienced but McCall said “there was a lot of great learning that took place at the jamboree.
“We also found a few new talented kids in Kai Brydon (linebacker), Ben Pickering (lineman) Parker Scott (running back/linebacker) and Ty Walker (receiver/defensive back).
The always much-anticipated “Battle of the Bridge” won’t be held this season.
For the first time since their inception, the Mt. Boucherie Bears won’t be playing in the same conference as the Kelowna Owls.
The Bears, due to diminishing numbers, will move the AAA Pacific Division that includes the Rutland Voodoos and seven other schools rebuilding their football programs.
The Okanagan Mission Huskies’ football program is also rebuilding.
After fielding a junior varsity team last season, OKM will add a senior team in 2019 — after a seven-year absence from provincial secondary school play.
The Huskies, under head coach Johannes Van Leenen, will play in the hybrid AA/AAA Interior Conference.
Van Leenen brings 20-plus years of coaching experience to the Huskies, the last two being with the Okanagan Sun as the offensive coordinator and running backs coach. Prior to working with the Sun, he was both the head coach and assistant coach/offensive coordinator with the Warriors at Henry Wise Wood High School in Calgary.
During his tenure there, the school’s senior team won the city championship three times and a provincial title.
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