Manitobans Named to U-18 Team
Canada Football
By Scott Taylor,
Photos courtesy Winnipeg Vincent Massey High School and the WHSFL
Winnipeg Vincent Massey’s Andreas
Dueck and Tong King and Brody
Williams of St. Paul have been named
to Canada’s National U-18 Football
team.
Earlier this month, Football
Canada unveiled its preliminary U-18
national team roster which will face
off against their U.S. counterparts as
part of the inaugural North American
Championship on Jan. 28, 2017, in
Orlando, Florida.
The series of games between USA
Football and Football Canada features
under-18 and under-19 national team
competition.
Dueck is an outstanding quarterback
who led his team into the Winnipeg
High School Football League’s Potter
Division Championship game this
week against St. Paul’s (St. Paul’s
finished the season undefeated by
beating Massey 17-8). King is Dueck’s
protector, the star of Massey’s offensive
line. Williams is a monster linebacker
with the almost perfect St. Paul’s
defense. It will be St. Paul’s and Massey
in the conference final this week.
However, in January, these warriors
will be teammates on Team Canada.
The North American Championship
builds on the rivalry that developed
between the two national teams
as Canada and the U.S. have met
in each of the first four gold medal
games at the IFAF U-19 (Junior) World
Championships. Canada evened up its
junior world gold medal game record,
at 2-2, following a 24-6 victory in
China. In 2012, Canada defeated Team
USA 23-17 to capture its first gold in
Austin, Texas.
The U.S. and Canada’s national
teams began playing an annual series
of games in 2014. This upcoming
January will mark the first time that
the winter series of games between the
two North American national teams is
held outside of the International Bowl
series. The International Bowl was
established in 2010 as a USA versus
the World game, played around NCAA
national signing day.
“The series has grown tremendously
and we’re excited to head to the state
of Florida, where the first International
Bowl game was held in 2010 to
showcase our national team rivalry,”
said Shannon Donovan, executive
director, Football Canada.
The 40 players invited to the
under-18 national team were selected
from the 2016 under-18 national
tackle football championship, the
Football Canada Cup, held July 9-15
right here in Winnipeg. Joining the
players named today in Orlando will
be Canada’s U-19 national team, which
was announced earlier and includes
the members of the 2016 Football
Brody Williams
(56) St. Paul’s
Andreas
Dueck
12 / sportslife
Andreas Dueck
Canada Cup All-Star team. That group
includes Galata Gurmu, a defensive
back from Massey.
The U-18 national team will be led
by coaches selected from the eight
participating provincial teams that
competed at the 2016 Football Canada
Cup. Marco Iadeluca, head coach of
Quebec’s 2016 gold
medal winning
Canada Cup entry,
will serve the
same role with the
under-18 national
team. The full
coaching staff will
be announced in the
coming weeks. l