“Our expectation at the Wilson Cup is to go into Montreal and play hardnosed Nova Scotia football,” explains Team Nova Scotia head coach Chris Valardo. “Our goal every time we step on the field is to out work our competition and be physical.”
“We are very pleased to actually play in the tournament this year and this being the first year that Nova Scotia has played in the actual tournament our goal is to compete hard and be in every game we play.”
Players will be looking to make the most of the opportunity to compete in an elite, centre stage tournament, such as this one.
“We will be competing in the under-17 division of the Wilson Cup, which is a first class tournament,” comments the Team Nova Scotia head coach. “Unfortunately we had to cancel our Atlantic Bowl tournament due to a lack of teams this year so in place of it we will be going to the Wilson Cup.”
“This is huge for our kids to be able to go to Montreal and compete with some of the best age group all-star teams from Quebec and it will be a huge challenge.”
One area that Team Nova Scotia will be strong in is their defensive unit.
“We have played very tough defense all year and we have some strong play makers on our defense,” adds Valardo.
However, a weakness for the team could be age. Most of the players on the provincial squad are 15 years of age. In the Wilson Challenge, Team Nova Scotia will be competing in the under-17 division.
As for the team itself, one issue the team had this spring while they played in the Nova Scotia Varsity Football League was how the injury bug wreaked havoc with their starting quarterbacks. However, going into the tournament, the team will have two strong pivots at the helm of the offensive unit.
“Cameron Valardo was injured in the spring league but has returned and will be our starter,” comments head coach Valardo. “Cameron is young at 14 but has an excellent arm and is a fierce competitor.”
“Duncan Patterson was our other quarterback but Duncan suffered a season ending leg injury in the spring league and will not be playing at the Wilson Cup; his replacement is former/current wide receiver Morgan Laws, who is a very athletic young man. He has shown incredible poise, athletic ability has stepped up and done a great job as our other quarterback.”
On the offensive side for Team Nova Scotia, there will be a few other key players to watch for on the field.
“On offense Marquis Diggs (receiver) and Jared Melnyk (receiver) are both very talented playmakers with outstanding athletic abilities,” says Valardo. “Nick Green is an outstanding running back with great speed.”
Defensively, there are a couple of marquee players that will be relied upon to lead the unit.
“On defense, Robbie Holland is an excellent defensive lineman that plays very hard in the middle of the defense along with linebacker Brad Bevan,” adds the Team Nova Scotia head coach.
Overall, Valardo likes the makeup of the provincial team.
“These players are fun to watch but I really do believe that we have a very balanced team with lots of talent young players,” comments Valardo.
As for the competition in the tournament, Valardo says the seven Quebec squads in the under-17 division will be strong and competitive based on past experience.
“My experience with Quebec teams has always been they are very talented teams that are well coached and very skilled players,” explains the Team Nova Scotia head coach. “Quebec is the hot bed of Canadian football right now from CIS with Sherbrooke, Laval and University of Montreal to the under-18 Football Canada Cup defending champions to having 20 players on our National Junior team currently playing at the Worlds.”
“These teams will be big, strong, fast and well coached.”
So far this season, Team Nova Scotia has reached all their objectives and goals while developing and improving into a close cohesive unit. This bodes well for their chances for success at the 2012 Wilson Challenge.
“Once again our provincial program has been an extreme success this year,” says Valardo. “We started the year with almost 100 players in this age group and have come down to our top 43 players and they have improved immensely over the past six months.”
“This is all designed to promote player development and increase the level of our top players and coaches in the province and win or lose I believe we have achieved those goals again this year. This year’s group of athletes is an exceptional group of kids that are coming together at just the right time to go to Quebec and show them what we are capable of!”
Team Nova Scotia Staff:
Head Coach: Chris Valardo
Offensive Coordinator: Larry Priestnall
Defensive Coordinator: Steve Watts
Quarterbacks Coach: Micah Brown
Assistant Coaches: Keith Skiffington, Steve Melanson, Steve Majury, Matt Lalande, Dion Hodges, Tom Gibbons, Bryce Fisher, Riley Brown
Management: Carol Chamberlain, Vanessa Smith-Majury (assistant), Rob Leger (equipment)
The 2012 edition of the Wilson Challenge will be held from July 6th to 15th at three different sites in Quebec. The finals for both age groups will be held as usual at McGill’s Percival Molson Stadium (July 14 & 15) in Montreal; and all 8 placement games will be ‘live streamed’ through a High Definition (HD) Pay-Per-View (PPV) network on CanadaFootballChat.com.
Link to access LIVE GAMES:
http://www.canadafoo…/live_games.php
Pay-per-view registration:
Sign up for Pay-Per-View commences Thursday July 8th. A tournament pass of $7.99 are available to viewers. Access the same link above to process your registration. The broadcast commentary will be in French.
Tournament news:
The big news is the opening match of the tournament in the Under-17 (U17) category that will be held in Quebec (Cégep de Lévis-Lauzon) between South Shore (Champions 2011) and Elites Quebec (returning in the tournament after a year’s absence).
Again this year, eight teams in both the Under-15 and U17 age categories will compete for top honors at the most prestigious football tournament in Quebec. Over 900 players and 150 coaches will attend the 16th edition of the Wilson Challenge. Nova Scotia will be entering a team in the U17 category.
Schedule and team listing:
http://footballquebe…on-2012-V.4.pdf
ROSTER
Last Name / First name / Date of birth / Height / Weight / Pos. / City
ADAMS NATE 1997-07-09 14 5’9″ 140 DB HALIFAX
BEVAN BRAD 1997-06-09 43 6’1″ 172 LB BEDFORD
BORDEN TY 1997-04-16 66 5’11” 178 DL DARTMOUTH
BOUDREAULT ANDRE 1997-10-02 22 5’11” 135 DL HAMMONDS PLAINS
BROWN JOSH 1997-04-08 42 5’10” 205 OL DARTMOUTH
CHAMBERLAIN WILLIAM 1997-04-18 25 5’6″ 145 DB BEDFORD
DAVIDSON CAMERON 1996-08-21 28 5’9″ 155 RB KENTVILLE
DIGGS MARQUIS 1997-02-14 17 5’8″ 130 REC EAST PRESTON
FORD BEN 1997-01-07 54 6’1″ 165 OL SACKVILLE
GORDON KYLE 1997-03-04 18 6’1″ 158 REC KINGSTON
GREEN NICHOLAS 1996-12-09 35 5’10” 145 RB DARTMOUTH
HARVEY JONATHAN 1997-09-18 75 6’2″ 205 OL HALIFAX
HICKEY LIAM 1996-06-01 59 6’4″ 250 lbs OL Bedford
HODGES DION THOMAS 1997-08-04 2 5’3″ 120 DB LAWRENCETOWN
HOLLAND ROBIE 1997-08-13 56 6’2″ 220 DL TANTALLON
HOYT THOMAS 1997-01-06 80 5’11” 150 REC HUBLEY
HUTCHINS GREGORY 1997-02-04 80 6’1″ 155 REC BEDFORD
JEWERS GARET 1997-06-18 33 5’7″ 155 REC BEDFORD
LARSON MORGAN 1997-11-26 65 6’0″ 270 DL ST MARGARET
LAWS MORGAN 1997-03-14 85 6’1″ 160 QB/REC FALL RIVER
LEGER ZACHARY 1996-08-08 5 5’10” 170 LB STILLWATER
MACDONALD CONNOR 1997-05-17 9 5’7″ 175 LB GLACE BAY
MACKELLAR GREGOR 1998-07-22 52 6″0″ 225 OL TIMBERLEA
MADDISON DANIEL 1997-02-03 67 6’1″ 272 OL RIVER PHILLIP
MAIN JON 1997-10-09 58 5’10” 170 LB KENTVILLE
MAJURY AIDAN 1997-10-01 24 5’11” 145 RB HAMMONDS PLAINS
MANSON LIAM 1997-06-23 61 5’10” 185 DL HALIFAX
MELANSON ISAAC 1997-12-02 62 5’9″ 155 DB KENTVILLE
MELNYK JARED 1996-12-23 19 6’3″ 180 REC EASTERN PASSAGE
MOLLINS CAMPBELL 1997-06-10 57 5’10” 220 OL WINDSOR JUNCTION
MORGAN JOE 1996-04-09 58 6’3″ 260 lbs OL HALIFAX
NICKERSON-RING KAELAM 1997-05-18 50 5’10” 165 DL LOWER SACKVILLE
O’BRIEN BROCK 1996-11-01 68 6’3″ 280 OL WOLFVILLE
OGILVIE MICHAEL 1997-10-10 88 5’8″ 145 REC WOLFVILLE
OULTON LUKE 1998-03-07 30 5’8″ 130 DB HANTSPORT
PATTERSON DUNCAN 1997-12-04 12 5’9″ 175 QB BEDFORD
PRIESTNALL MATTHEW 1997-05-08 34 5’5″ 152 LB COLDBROOK
ROBICHAUD CAMERYN 1998-12-28 51 5’8″ 190 LB LOWER SACKVILLE
ROBICHAUD TYLER 1996-03-11 21 5’10” 180 LB LOWER SACKVILLE
RUSSELL JOE 1997-07-03 32 5’10” 170 RB DARTMOUTH
TROKE DANNY 1997-04-16 26 5’11” 125 DB BEDFORD
TZANETEAS NICK 1997-11-28 3 5’7″ 148 DB HALIFAX
VALARDO CAMERON 1997-09-17 12 5’10’ 155 QB FALL RIVER
WELLS SPENCER 1996-11-07 81 5’10” 135 REC DARTMOUTH
Photo 2 courtesy of Karrie Ann Buchanan
(twitter: http://twitter.com/vohra_ameeta)
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