The Bow Valley Bobcats celebrated their long-awaited provincial win last week with an inspiring visit from the quarterback who brought home the banner the last time around.
“For them to win it again – to come around full circle – I couldn’t explain how proud and how happy it made me,” said Caleb Clark, who led the high school football team to provincial wins in 2002 and 2003.
“I definitely got the feeling this is not going to be a ‘one and done.’”
Clark was a guest of honour at the Bobcats’ annual football awards banquet held last week to give praise to the best and brightest players and pay tribute to the team as a whole. The Bobcats had a storybook season, culminating in a sensational victory against the Stettler Wildcats in November to clinch the Alberta Schools Athletic Association’s Tier IV provincial championship after a drought of more than a dozen years.
“I think it’s still sinking in (for the players),” said head coach Cam Cote. “It’s a major accomplishment.”
Cote said a few ballers don’t win banners – it takes a whole team effort to get the job done. That said, select players received recognition at the banquet for their outstanding achievements throughout the year, including Thomas Cameron, who was named MVP, and current quarterback Austin Javorsky, who earned the Coach’s Choice Award.
“I have never coached anybody in my career that has improved as quickly as Javorsky. He really came a long way,” said Cote, adding he witnessed growth in many of the Bobcats over the course of the season and into provincials. “We did see such maturity. This championship has really ignited a bit of a fire and shown them what is possible.”
Clark leveraged his winning high school football years into a full ride scholarship at Western Michigan University, where he played NCAA Division 1 football. After four years with the WMU Broncos, Clark transferred to Simon Fraser University – where he continued his schooling and also coached the SFU Clan.
The former QB1 moved back to the Cochrane area in the last couple of years and now runs a social media company in Calgary. He helped coach the Cochrane Lions bantam team last year and said he is committed to coming out in the spring to work with the Bow Valley team and help build up the program “the way we always envisioned it to be.”
“There’s going to be little things that propel this machine forward,” said Clark. “It’s going to take a few key leaders on that team, which I think there are, to make sure that energy is going in the right direction.”
Cote agrees the momentum of the provincial win – combined with the passion of the players on the team – can only strengthen the football program in the future.
“The program’s growing, improving,” he said. “We’re excited about what we have coming up.”
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SIDEBAR
Bow Valley Bobcats 2016 Football Awards
Coach’s Choice: Austin Javorsky
Gridiron: Cole Hughes
Ironman: Rylan Waugh
Special Teams: Liam MacDonald
Rookie of the Year (Offense): Brett Anderson
Rookie of the Year (Defense): Connor Pointen
Lineman of the Year: Karl Gildemeister
Offensive Player of the Year: Brad Hillier
Defensive Player of the Year: Rheese Mochar
MVP: Thomas Cameron
