2014 East West Bowl (capital region representation)

The blog is rather RedBlacks heavy at the moment, as that team actively builds, but anyone who came across my Capital Region Football website in the past knows that I have just as much interest in the amateur levels of the sport around the city as I do pro.  I've gotten in many an argument with people who claim that Ottawa is "not a football town", based on the quality and success of the amateur game, and my invitation for them to go to hell continues to be wide open. ;-)

So I took in the East-West bowl rosters with an increasing amount of glee last week as I was scrolling down the list and seeing more and more players with Ottawa connections.  Have a look:

QB  Dallon Kuprowski   McGill     5-9   168   Kanata, Ont.
QB  Jesse Mills        Carleton   6-4   230   Halifax, N.S.
OL  Danny Groulx       Laval      6-6   320   Gatineau, Que.
RB  Jesse Andrews      Queen’s    6-1   210   Arnprior, Ont.
RB  Ashton Dickson     StFX       5-9   193   Ottawa, Ont.
REC Nyjill Wilson      Bishop’s   6-1   190   Ottawa, Ont.
REC Ian Stewart        Ottawa     6-2   186   Burlington, Ont.
REC Randy Roseway      StFX       6-0   163   Ottawa, Ont.
                     

LB Ron Omara

LB  Drew Morris        Acadia     6-2   225   Ottawa, Ont.
LB  Ron Omara          StFX       6-2   241   Aylmer, Que.
DB  Sean Stoqua        Acadia     5-11  180   Ottawa, Ont.
DB  Dustin Wilson      Ottawa     6-1   195   Ottawa, Ont.

K/P Ryan Begin         Acadia     5-10  205   Orleans, Ont.

Now to be completely impartial, I have acknowledge that two of the guys playing IN Ottawa are not FROM Ottawa, just apparently excelling in the local university programs.

So technically I'm double-dipping.  But even removing Jesse Mills and Ian Stewart from the list (even Arnprior's Jesse Andrews is debatable), it's still plenty solid.  As was pointed out to me on Twitter, StFX is sending three guys, and all three are from Ottawa.

Also, this isn't an all-star team per se.  The point of the East West Bowl is for players becoming draft-eligible in 2015 to showcase their skills.  So a number of players don't qualify to be included.

That hardly diminishes the accomplishment.  As the announcement points outs, 13 of the guys on the list (West team included, of course) were named CIS all-stars at the conclusion of last season.

Though I wasn't quite as active in terms of direct support in 2013 as I had in previous years, it's great to see some of the guys that I've been watching for years reach this level.  There may be a couple in particular that I'll want to elaborate on but if so I'll do it in separate posts.  In the meantime, congratulations to all of the above for the prestigious invitation.

The game will be played May 10th at 1PM at the University of Western Ontario.