Fourteen-year-old Cochranite Jacob Mate was one of 28 players selected to suit up for the Calgary Bantam football Selects team that travelled to Las Vegas Nov. 23 through to Nov. 26 to play in the bantam tournament.
Thirteen teams make up the bantam football league, with each team sending six players who were scouted by the Calgary Bantam Football Association (CBFA).
The 2017 version of the Selects squad lost their first game, but the team they played was disqualified, which propelled them into the final game of the tournament, which they won 20-6 over the Alaska Steelers.
Mate, a member of the Cochrane Lions team that won the Tier 3 bantam city championships, was the only Lion picked to play for the team, after the tryout was cut down to 28 players from 100.
“I was really surprised I was the only guy off my team to make it,” Mate said.
“We have some good players on our team and it was intimidating knowing I was representing Cochrane, with all the possible players in the try out that they could have picked over me.”
“I was honoured to be apart of the team, and honoured to play for a team of such high calibre. It was a bit scary, but I knew my teammates were counting on me to do my job … but it was a lot of fun as well.”
Mate said playing for the Lions was integral to his success this season and instrumental in helping him prepare for tougher competition.
“I had a lot of great coaches on the Lions, in particular my defensive lineman coach (Steve Dallison) and head coach (Paul Vailliancourt) were great,” Mate said.
“They taught me a lot of useful skills and helped me develop as a football player, but also helped me develop the attitude I needed, too. Football is a big thing in the United States, and the level of competition is higher than the league in Calgary.”
“The change of rules from Canadian to American was one of the bigger challenges our team had to face as well as coming together as a team and learning the playbook … that was tough to do in two weeks.”
“For me, personally, the toughest thing to deal with was the timing of the quarterback’s cadence as well as not having to give the yard off the ball like we have to do here in Calgary. It helped me not only develop skills to make me a better football player, but also gave me life skills as well … I was really honoured to be a part of it all.”
Mate, who currently is going to St. Timothy School, will be playing high school football next season, he’s just not sure where that will because St. Timothy does not have a football program.
“We’re looking at which schools he could possibly go to next year,” said Jacob’s father, Peter.
“In order to stay in the school district, it will either have to be St. Francis, Notre Dame or Bishop Carroll.”
Mate will take a few months off before he will attend the Team Canada U-16 tryout in the spring.
