Spence Wins Grant Park
Football Top Rookie Honours
By Scott Taylor, Photos courtesy Darcy Spence and Grant Park Pirates Football
Grant Park High School football coach
Doug Kovacs can’t stop talking about
Tyson Spence. Even when you think
he’s said it all, Kovacs will find another
good thing to say about this year’s
Pirates’ Rookie of the Year.
Spence, whose father, Darcy is
still a tremendous athlete in his own
right, is 6-foot-3, 240 pounds and is
only 15-years-old. He has the build
and quickness to be one of the top
defensive linemen ever produced in
Manitoba.
“What a fantastic young man,” said
Kovacs last week. “I would call him a
pure football player. He works out five
days a week. Nobody works harder.
He started for us as defensive lineman
in Grade 10 and he’s a stud with the
provincial U-16 team.
“Honestly, I don’t know anyone who
works harder than Tyson. Next year, in
Grade 11, he’ll be a two-way starter for
us. He’ll play both O-line and D-line
and it will be hard to keep him off the
field. The kid’s simply a specimen. He
works hard in school and he works
hard at fixing the mistakes he makes
on the field. He’s also a good basketball
player and just a great all-around
athlete.”
Tyson started playing football as a
Terminator with the old Rods when
he was eight-years-old. From his first
game he was an interior defensive
lineman. Always a big kid, he liked the
hitting, the chasing of quarterbacks
and the sound it made when a
runningback hit the ground. As a
result, he’s developed into one of the
best high school linemen in Manitoba.
“When I started, I was the biggest
kid there,” said Tyson. “When I left the
Rods and moved to the Crescentwood
Grizzlies (now the Corydon Comets), I
stayed at defensive line and was there,
at the same position, for four years.
I’m comfortable at it and I love playing
tackle.”
Tyson Spence came by is athletic
prowess and physical toughness quite
Tyson Spence, Grant Park Pirates
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