Like he’s done so often before, quarterback Tae Gordon led his football team to victory last weekend – but this time, it was the last time, and he couldn’t have gone out in better style. Under the sun at McMahon Stadium, as a provincial all-star captain, with his longtime coaches on the sidelines, his family cheering him on from around the world, Gordon and his friends and teammates worked together on the turf for the final win of their high school football journey.
“It’s definitely bittersweet,” said Gordon, riding the high of the south team’s 26-15 scrub of the north in the Football Alberta Senior Bowl on Monday afternoon.
“I’ve played with him since I was nine years old,” Cochrane Cobras teammate and fellow all-star running back Kane Boklaschuk said of his QB1.
“It’s emotional … happiness and sadness all together.”
Cochrane High School players Gordon and Boklaschuk, along with Dylan Gingrich-Hadley, Zach Rabe and Bow Valley Bobcat Brad Hillier, rounded out the on-field force from Cochrane during the annual game against the best Grade 12 football players in the province.
While Boklaschuk, Rabe and Gingrich-Hadley are headed to University of Calgary to play with the Dinos after graduation, Gordon has chosen to attend Queens University in Ontario and play for the Gaels.
Rabe said Gordon has been his leader for years on the football field – and Monday, during their last game, the two fell into place as easily as they have since junior high.
“That’s something that started second year bantam,” said Rabe of their on-field chemistry. “Before the game, (Gordon) said, ‘This is our last go together.’ That just got me pumped up.”
The south team hit the turf with a blast of adrenaline and made a few slips in the first half to trail 9-3 by the end of the second quarter.
“It was a lot of momentum changes,” said Boklaschuk. “Everybody held each other accountable.”
The team regrouped in the second half of the game – and with seven minutes left in the third quarter, receiver Rabe found a gaping hole in the end zone and scooped a long bomb out of the air for a 43-yard touchdown to put the south in the lead.
“I knew I had the end zone in sight,” Rabe recalled. “It really turned a switch on for us.”
From there, Gordon and Rabe got into a familiar groove and completed pass after pass, steadily pushing the south over the line twice more before the end of the game to finish with a 26-15 victory.
“It’s different when I’m throwing to 8-2,” said Gordon with a smile, referring to Rabe’s number. “It was something else.”
“It was a good way to end it,” added Boklaschuk.
Rob McNab, who coached the Football Alberta south team and also coaches the Cochrane Cobras, said he was happy the boys had a chance to make one more memory before life takes them in different directions.
“To see them come and perform … is great.”
