In the City of Yorkton there are two sports in particular that instantly come to mind: One, of course, is hockey, where Yorkton has picked up provincial championships like a small child picks his nose; far more often than is expected.
The other sport that comes to mind: football. That’s because over the past 10 years Yorkton has slowly developed into somewhat of a football powerhouse within the province of Saskatchewan, sending several players per year to university and junior football programs throughout the country.
However the success doesn’t just happen at the postsecondary and junior level. In fact, the two Yorkton high schools, Yorkton Regional and Sacred Heart, have also regularly sent multiple players to events such as the Senior Bowl, where the top graduating football players in the country go head-to-head in their last high school football games of their career. “Every year we at the Regional have between two and four guys go to the Senior Bowl every year and I know Sacred usually sends a couple to the nine-man game,” offered YRHS Raider head coach Roby Sharpe. “Of course the odd year we’ve had only one but not very many because our guys are some of the top guys in the province every year.
“Every year they showcase at the Senior Bowl and we’re very proud of it; and them.”
This year is no different, as no less than seven players – four from the YRHS and three from Sacred – will suit up in their respective Senior Bowl games this coming weekend. “This year we’re sending four guys to Regina to play in the Senior Bowl,” boasted Sharpe. “Jon Muir, Kolby Lang, Zach Kais and Darius Haberstock are the guys that we’re sending, although we could send more.”
The ‘more’ that Sharpe suggests are the players that have already committed to CIS programs, such as Peter Kozushka who will be playing next year at the University of Alberta. “Don’t forget that we’ve had guys like Peter Kozushka who never went to the Senior Bowl simply because they’re at university tryouts,” suggested Sharpe, continuing, “Grey McKen didn’t play last year either because the Regina Rams didn’t really want him to go and risk getting injured in a game like that.
“Some of our big guns that go straight to CIS programs don’t get to play in the Senior Bowl so we could have more guys playing. We’re never going to have all 12 guys I don’t imagine because there are a lot of studs out there from other programs as well, but to send multiple guys every year, we’re happy with that. And we’re very proud of the guys that we send there.”
Sacred sends three
The YRHS isn’t the only football program in the city that has seen success in terms of sending players to the Senior Bowl.
Yorkton’s nine-man program at Sacred Heart has also routinely sent players to the Senior Bowl weekend; something they continue to do this year as three Sacred players – Shane Varjassy, Christian Flaman and Nick Clarke – will make the trip to Regina for the nine-man game this coming weekend.
