WEYBURN - Conner Kerr, a Weyburn Comprehensive School football player, recently represented Team Saskatchewan as a quarterback in the 2023 U18 Canada Cup. The tournament was held in Edmonton from July 8 to 15.
Team Saskatchewan was selected from the top U18 High school players in the province and for this national championship tournament had teams from B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia competing for the 2023 title.
It was hosted at the University of Alberta this year, and the teams spent 10 days in Edmonton with games scheduled on July 9 and 12. The championship game was held on July 15. Saskatchewan was the defending champion at the event and held the top ranking before the championship.
Team Sask came out strong in their first match up against New Brunswick, and secured a 39-0 victory to move into the semi finals. In other first round match ups: Alberta beat Nova Scotia, Ontario beat B.C. and Quebec defeated Manitoba.
During the semi final game, Team Sask had a tight defensive game against Ontario, and won 15-12 to earn a spot in the gold medal championship. Team Quebec defeated Alberta in the other semi to punch their ticket to the final. Alberta moved to the bronze medal game against Ontario. On the consolation side, the Maritimes ruled the day with Nova Scotia defeating Manitoba and New Brunswick defeating B.C.
The final games brought some unexpected and unwanted smoky conditions that threatened the tournament.
Organizers delayed games and monitored the safety standards of the event and eventually had no choice but to cancel all remaining games of the tournament due to unsafe playing conditions because of the smoke in the air. So this left all teams without their final game of the tournament and no medals awarded after the weeklong championship event. Unfortunately with teams had to return home the next day, and no options for rescheduling was provided for the players, coaches, organizers and fans as the event was closed.
Conner returns for his senior year at WCS this fall with some new skills and ideas for the program to push towards a potential high school title again this fall.
