It was a busy weekend for one Grande Prairie football coach. St. Joes Celtics Head Coach Trevor Prichard was in Red Deer helping to coach Team Alberta U18 players in preparation for the Football Canada Cup this July. As the U18 Assistant Coach, Pritchard says his players looked good over the weekend.
“It was strong defence, offence takes a little more time when it comes to timing and making reads but there are some outstanding athletes. Most of the athletes that are competing at the U-18 level will end up playing in U Sports at universities and junior programs throughout Canada.”
A group of U17 players also got to attend camp over the weekend. While there were no local players on the U18 team, Ashton Cyre and Dakota Power from the St. Joes Celtics were on the U17 development team’s defensive line.
That team took on the Team Saskatchewan Selects in a scrimmage on the 16th which Alberta lost 40-0. Despite the loss, Prichard says both athletes played well.
“Team Saskatchewan got the better of them. Defensively I think they were in tough because they were on the field for a long time but Saskatchewan was very well tuned and looked great. Ashton and Dakota got a lot of playing time so that was good for them.”
The U18s are now off to Kingston, Ontario from July 6 to 13 for the Canada Cup and the U17s will head to Maui, Hawaii, August 4 to 12 to take on other high school teams.