Nelson Lokombo, going airborne to make a tackle, was selected No. 2 overall by the Saskatchewan Roughriders in Tuesday's CFL draft. (Photo property of Saskatchewan Huskies athletics 2021. All Rights Reserved)
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CFL Draft 2021: Sask Huskies Lokombo goes No. 2 overall to Riders! Mouat grad B.C. high school’s highest pick since Fox’s Sukh Chungh in 2015!

Everyone who has watched Nelson Lokombo play football over the past few seasons has deemed him as special.On Tuesday, the 5-foot-11, 184-pound cornerback with the Saskatchewan Huskies discovered he’s being viewed the same way by the Canadian Football League.Lokombo, the 2017 graduate of Abbotsford’s W.J. Mouat Secondary, was selected second overall in the CFL draft […]

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 […]

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 […]

A three-sport man who also dabbles on the ice and in the sprints, Vancouver College's Ben Kolb has found his niche as the Fighting Irish's kicker and punter. (Photo by Howard Tsumura property of Varsity Letters 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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The singular focus of Ben Kolb: VC Fighting Irish’s UBC-bound kicker wears his ‘thinking cap’ inside his helmet as BCHSF’s 2020 Academic Player of Year!

VANCOUVER — Whether he’s wearing a football helmet or just his plain, old thinking cap, Ben Kolb is a study in focus.“I do think there are a lot of similarities between challenging classes and the pressure you experience on the football field,” the senior kicker/punter with the Vancouver College Fighting Irish explained Thursday over the […]

Nobody plays bigger than G.W. Graham's 5-foot-7 offensive lineman Vince Ibardolaza, the recipient of this season's Kevin Chin Memorial Scholarship. (Photos by Margot Summers property of G.W. Graham Athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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“He has the golden intangibles…” No one in BC high school football plays bigger than GW Graham’s 5-7 lineman & Chin Memorial winner Vince Ibardolaza!

ABBOTSFORD — Don’t try to tell Vince Ibardolaza what he’d can’t do on the football field.Instead, take a seat and watch what the undersized 5-foot-7, 210-pound offensive lineman with Chilliwack’s G.W. Graham Grizzlies can do.“He is really stoic and as even-keeled as they come, but a lot of that is his quiet confidence” Grizzlies head […]

New Westminster Hyacks' coach and B.C. high school football caretaker Farhan Lalji joins the Varsity Letters' podcast. (Photo by Alan Wardle property of NWSS athletics 2020. All Rights Reserved)
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VL Podcast 12.03.20: TSN’s Farhan Lalji on Subway Bowl, the Seahawks, Claypool and a coaching life well-mentored!

This week, the Varsity Letters welcomes an enduring friend of the podcast! TSN’s Farhan Lalji, a 31-year high school football coach in the province of B.C. stops by to chat with host Howard Tsumura about a whole host of topics.   This coming Saturday at B.C. Place Stadium would have been the 2020 Subway Bowl […]