Connecting with players and a creating a connected culture between the program and its community was a founding principle of outgoing Hyacks head coach Farhan Lalji. (Photo by Alan Wardle property of New Westminster Hyacks football 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Farhan Lalji: As the New West Hyacks’ football founder bids adieu, his charter words from 2003 continue to speak an essential & universal truth!

“One of the parents of a player came up to me and said, ‘You’ve basically given my son his life back because this has helped motivate him in so many other areas.’ I don’t take myself seriously enough to think that it’s because of me, but it is because of this whole package that we’ve […]

Terrell Jana of the Virginia Cavaliers brings a pair of sure hands to the CFL next season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. (Photo by Matt Riley property of University of Virginia media relations 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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CFL Draft 2021: A true purist’s receiver, STM grad Jana puts his hands to an ‘instrumental’ test as he prepares for rookie season with ‘Riders!

As a budding musician, Terrell Jana has discovered that striking a chord or two has not only helped relax his mind, but keep his hands dexterous and strong in his endless pursuit of catching the football.Taken on the whole, it’s just another example of the purist’s approach the Burnaby native and Virginia Cavaliers receiver will […]

South Delta's Grant McDonald is moving from the Calgary Dinos to a CFL career in Edmonton. (Photo by David Moll property of Calgary Dinos athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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CFL Draft 2021: For South Delta’s LB duo of McDonald & Moore its Subway Bowl, Vanier Cup and now, separate CFL futures!

At the time, the 2014 edition of the Subway Bowl B.C. high school Triple A champion South Delta Sun Devils showed all the signs of being a very unflappable football team.Of course, with 20/20 hindsight playing in the rearview mirror, a fast-forward to the events of Tuesday night may actually have unfolded without too much […]

A target to rely on, Virginia receiver Terrell Jana's laser focus made him one of the most sure-handed receivers in all of college football the past two seasons. (Photo by Pete Emerson property of University of Virginia media relations 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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STMC’s Terrell Jana: As draft week arrives, sure-handed Virginia receiver leaves a legacy as a giver en route to his pro football future!

He has helping hands.That’s the best way to describe, in both the literal and figurative sense, the essence of Terrell Jana, who on the eve of both the NFL and CFL drafts, is every bit as much a giver as he is as receiver, and that’s saying a lot when you’re talking about a guy […]

Saskatchewan Huskies' Nelson Lokombo (left), the former W.J. Mouat Hawk, and U SPORTS' 2019 Defensive Player of the Year, is being touted among the top players in the upcoming CFL draft. (Photo property of Saskatchewan Huskies athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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W.J. Mouat’s Nelson Lokombo: Why a position switch “switched” his perspective and elevated Saskatchewan Huskies’ star DB in eyes of CFL scouts!

He’d enjoyed a Canadian Football Hall of Fame career along the offensive line of the Montreal Alouettes, and now, a few years after returning to his alma mater to begin a new one along the sidelines, he was being elevated to the role of head coach of the Saskatchewan Huskies.Yet as Scott Flory is the […]

UBC linebacker Ben Hladik doing what he does best against the Alberta Golden Bears. (Photo by Bob Frid property of UBC athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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Big Ben’s time: UBC’s Ben Hladik, part of ‘Birds star-studded linebacker class, stops at nothing to impress pro football scouts!

Everything you may have already imagined about the voluminous work ethic of UBC Thunderbirds’ starting middle linebacker Ben Hladik is true.And in case you had any doubt, there’s nothing like a first-hand account from an otherwise non-descript day in the dead of winter, when no one was supposed to be watching, to stoke the fires […]

The work towards selecting the BC Secondary Schools Football Association All-Decade teams from the 1930s through the present day, is just beginning. A certain Pittsburgh Steelers receiver, however, is sure to be among those honoured this coming season.
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The All-Time Dream Teams of B.C. High School Football: BCSSFA wants your help in selecting our best teams, by the decade, since the 1930s!

The longest championship streak in provincial high school sports history was snapped this past fall at 86 straight years.Ever since King Edward won the first B.C. high school football title in 1934, a gridiron champ has been crowned in our province.Thankfully, those behind the scenes at the B.C. Secondary Schools Football Association are trying to […]

First a topic of conversation in the 1960s, Notre Dame Regional Secondary's new on-campus turf football fields with seating for 730 expected to be a reality by April. (Graphic property of Notre Dame Regional Secondary athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved).
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Notre Dame’s new Juggler Field all-turf field complex set for April completion: With 700-plus seats, on-campus football looks hopefully to a fall reality!

Amidst what has been a nightmare of a high school sports season in B.C., a football Field of Dreams with the figurative spirit to go the distance, looks to have finally come to fruition at its East Vancouver campus.Notre Dame Regional Secondary, home to a Jugglers’ senior varsity football program which is the most decorated […]

UBC Thunderbirds head coach Blake Nill feels so much of the team's 2021 identity will stem from the team's play along its trenches. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of VarsityLetters.ca 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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VL podast 01.27.21: UBC head football coach Blake Nill on celebrating the tradition of Blue & Gold and the promise of a 2021 fall kick-off!

The UBC football nation, just like all of the other tight-knit, tradition-laden programs across Canada, mourned the loss of 2020 university football season. Thunderbirds’ head coach Blake Nill, however, is excited and hopeful for the prospects of a 2021 campaign… that much is obvious as the three-time Vanier Cup national championship-winning coach joins host Howard […]

Jackson Findlay's heartfelt embrace of life as a student-athlete at Vancouver College has been recognized with the BCSSFA's 2020 Community Involvement Scholarship. (Photo by Dave Fong property of Vancouver College athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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Vancouver College’s Jackson Findlay never rests: BCSSFA honours the big-picture focus of Fighting Irish senior!

VANCOUVER — You’d be hard pressed to find a B.C. high school student-athlete who started the current academic year in September more prepared to stretch the limits of a standard 24-hour day than Jackson Findlay.And even though the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic have curtailed so many of the goals he had set for […]