The 2016 Sportslife / whsfl p
By Scott Taylor with WHFSL Commissioner Rick Henkewich, Photos by Jeff Miller, Glenn Dickson and Mike Lukyn
Andreas Dueck, will start his third season as a Varsity starting quarterback at Vincent Massey Collegiate this fall. Called a“ Dual-threat quarterback” who is selfless, confident and extremely poised, Dueck is our 2016 Winnipeg High School Football League Player to Watch.
The WHSFL season starts on Thursday, Sept. 8, and the league will be loaded with outstanding young athletes. You will meet 10 of them right here, up close and personal, players to watch when you head out to the field to catch the best high school football this side of Thunder Bay.
However, while there will be a load of excellent players, perhaps the most exciting will be Dueck, an 18-year-old with size, skill and heart.
“ He is a true Servant Leader: hard working, humble, selfless, confident, intelligent, and extremely poised,” said Vincent Massey head coach Kelsey McKay.“ So much so, that he is referred to as our eye of the storm.
“ Andreas has tremendous accuracy in his throws, and demonstrates great athleticism and conviction in his decision-making, while running our no-huddle, spread option offense.
“ A future great coach, he is a true student of the game, who has spent countless hours this past off-season studying film, learning play and package design, and situational play calling.”
He is experienced beyond his years and is also his team’ s on-field leader. While the following players are among the finest in the province, no one provides more leadership and experience at the quarterbacking position than Andreas Dueck of the Vincent Massey( Winnipeg) Trojans.
“ I’ ve coached high school quarterbacks for 28 years, and he is the first one that is a real quarterback,” said McKay.“ I always say,‘ Some guys play quarterback, Some guys are quarterbacks.’ He is one.”
Currently, 18 CIS Universities have contacted him to recruit him for his
18 / sportslife post-secondary academic and football career.
His honors are almost too great to list: He was the MVP of the ANAVETS Bowl as a junior last season and was the Trojans Team MVP for 2015. He was Team Manitoba’ s Starting quarterback at the U-18 Canada Cup this July.
Academically, Dueck is enrolled in a full course load, and maintains an 84 per cent average. He is interested in Sports Psychology as a career, but is also considering a couple of other options.
“ In the offseason, in addition to our quarterback sessions at VMC, he trains his quarterback footwork and throwing skills four mornings a week from 6:30 a. m. to 7:45 a. m. with Recruit Ready,” McKay explained.“ He also started on our varsity boys’ basketball team and lifts three times a week with the University of Manitoba Bisons Strength and Conditioning Program, in the evening.”
Dueck is also the starting QB for Recruit Ready’ s 7-on-7 travel team, a team that travelled to Chicago in March for the Pylon 7-on-7 Tourney. He was named the tournament’ s All-Star QB.
“ Andreas also invested his own time and money to travel to the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodeaux, La., during the summer of 2015,” McKay added.“ Also to note, to begin the 2015 season, we traveled to the Big Island, Hawaii for an exhibition game, and he led us with two TD passes in just over one half of play, to a 26-21 victory over the Kealekehe Wave Riders, our program’ s first-ever International Victory.
“ One of the most empathetic young men I’ ve ever met, he has a great family, great parents in Cal and Anna Dueck, who are strong in their faith. Andreas has grown up with an older brother, Caleb, who has cerebral palsy, whom he
Andreas Dueck with Rick Henkewich, 2015 ANAVETS Cup MVP calls his‘ role model’, and the‘ toughest person he knows.’ I don’ t know how he does it. He is incredibly committed, goal-oriented, and extremely humble. Andreas will be very successful in his life as a father, husband and community member and I am extremely proud to be his coach.”
He’ s quite a young man, but he’ s not the only star to watch this season. Let’ s meet the other Players to Watch in each of the WHSFL’ s Varsity Divisions: