PA sends three to the Senior Bowl

Being selected to the senior bowl means a lot to Pederson, to be acknowledged as one of the best players in the province.

“It’s a good feeling to know that you’re a part of that, and to be a part of that elite group of people,” said Pedersen.

“It shows the commitment you have and how much you worked and hard how you worked and how good it is to represent your school and who you are,” added Darbyshire.

Although he led the league in rushing, Gabriel-Cannon admitted he was jittery heading into the Team North try-outs Apr.1 in Saskatoon.

“I was nervous going in, just trying to prove to myself that hey, if I can do this, then I can do whatever I want. It was personal goal setting,” said Gabriel-Cannon.

“All the training and hard work I’ve been doing is paying off and to play with other elite athletes in the province is such a sweet thing.”

According to Crusaders head coach Rylan Michalchuk, having three Prince Albert players going to the senior bowl is much more than they’ve had in recent years and that figure shows the development of football in P.A..

“It speaks volumes about how minor football’s been growing in our community,” said Michalchuk, who will be the defensive coordinator for Team North.

“Having three kids from PA (make the senior bowl) is pretty big for football… We’re going in the right direction, and hopefully we can keep sending lots of kids each year.”

One of the big reasons football has been able to grow locally is the creation of the Prince Albert Minor Football Association in 2007 and its teams, the River Riders, who play in the bantam and pee wee levels.

Gabriel-Cannon, Pederson and Darbyshire were all once teammates on the first ever River Riders bantam team back in 2007. Gabriel-Cannon and Pederson remained teammates as they attended Carlton together, but Darbyshire turned cross-town rival when he put on a Marauders’ jersey.

Opponents or not, the three have been able to remain friends and are glad they can be teammates for one last time, on Team North at the Senior Bowl.

“One day we’re teammates, the other day we’re kicking each other’s butts, then hey, we’re teammates again—it never stops,” said Gabriel-Cannon. “We’re always comrades, no matter what.”

Darbyshire and Pedersen both play defensive end and could be on the same D-unit together at the senior bowl, something they haven’t had the pleasure of doing since bantam.

“It’ll be good, you’re not working with just strangers from Saskatoon,” said Darbyshire. “On the other side (of the line), you’ll have another good D-lineman from Prince Albert.”

All three will attend spring camps, hoping to get on to post-secondary football teams.

Gabriel-Cannon said he’s received interest from both University of Regina and University of Saskatchewan, as well as several American colleges. He does have his heart set on the University of Calgary, and will attend the Dinos’ spring camp on Thursday.

Pedersen has been invited to attend the University of Saskatchewan Huskies’ spring camp and Darbyshire will attend the Saskatoon Hilltops’ spring camp.

jdandrea@panow.com

by Jeff D'Andrea

PA sends three to the Senior Bowl

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