BONNYVILLE - Bonnyville football player Cooper Prybysh has been invited to the Final Selection Camp for Team Alberta U18 on the May Long Weekend, taking place in Red Deer.
A total of 144 players were selected out of over 500 players who attended the North and South evaluation camps over the past few weekends, according to information from Football Alberta.
Out of the 144 players, Football Alberta will be selecting two 40 person teams.
Team U18 White will go to the Football Canada Cup in Kelowna in early July to compete for a national championship, while team U18 Blue will go to the Western Challenge in Sherwood Park in late July versus B.C. and Saskatchewan. The Final Rosters for the White and Blue teams will be announced the week following May Long Weekend.
Prybysh is among the defensive line players selected for the final camp.
Donning the number 17 on his Bonnyville Voyageurs football jersey during the fall football season, Prybysh is currently finishing his Grade 11 year at Bonnyville Centralized High School.
Local players make it to Bantam Showcase
Two Bonnyville football players, and two from Cold Lake, have been selected to play at the Bantam showcase on May 23.
BONNYVILLE - The Bantam Showcase is the second round of tryouts for Football Alberta’s U16 team.
Roughly 250 players tried out with hopes of filling one of 40 spots on each of the two north Alberta teams, the Edmonton Golden Bears and Edmonton Wildcats.
Liam Critch, a Grade 8 student at Ardmore School and a former Bonnyville Bandits player was successful in making the Edmonton Golden Bears U16 team.
Zayden Ward, who also played with the Bonnyville Bandits, was selected to play for the Edmonton Wildcats for the upcoming Bantam Showcase.
Ward is finishing his Grade 9 year at École Notre Dame High School.
Jaxon Daniels, a player from the Cold Lake Ravens, was also selected to play for the Edmonton Wildcats. Lukas Turnell, another player from the Cold Lake Ravens was selected for the Edmonton Golden Bears team.
Following the Bantam Showcase games, Team Alberta will invite the top players to a final selection camp. Between 40-60 players from the six teams of 40, will continue on the path towards the final U16 team.
The final roster for the official U16 team will be announced between June 10-12. Successful players will then head Langley, B.C. in July to take part in the Western Challenge.
Senior Bowl
Selected to play in Football Alberta's Senior Bowl is Cold Lake athlete Logan Karenko.
Coming from the Cold Lake Royals football team, Karenko was selected to participate on this year's north team's offensive line.
"The Senior Bowl is an All-Star Game consisting of players from all the high schools across Alberta where the teams are split in a "North" vs. "South" fashion," explains Football Alberta.
The Senior Bowl north-south match up will also take place in Red Deer on May 23.
Sending positive vibes
Another Bonnyville player will soon be lacing up her cleat to try out for the U18 Girls Football Alberta team.
Sara Fagnan is planning to attend a football selection camp over the May Long Weekend to hopefully earn a spot on the U18 team.
Fagnan previously tried out for the U16 team’s Bantam Showcase in the quarterback position but was unsuccessful in making the final roster for the north teams.
The Bonnyville Amateur Football Association wishes all the local athletes good luck as they move forward in provincial tryouts, leaving their mark on the field.
This article was updated on May 6 to include two local players, Lukas Turnell and Logan Karenko, that were previously missed from in the intital report.*
