A trio of W.H. Croxford High School football players will head west this summer to compete in the British Columbia Football Conference (BCFC) – a junior football league that acts as a springboard to university and professional programs.
Seniors Keagan Henderson, Jamal Bacchus and Keegan Proudlock signed contracts with BCFC programs June 15, following the W.H. Croxford Athletic Awards ceremony. Henderson and Bacchus joined the Nanaimo-based Vancouver Island Raiders, while Proudlock committed to the Okanagan Sun in Kelowna.
“I’m on top of the world right now,” said Proudlock, a 17-year-old defensive back. “It’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point, and reaping the benefits right now is amazing.”
Proudlock said there are many benefits to playing for the Sun, versus a university team.
“It’s giving me a couple more years to get bigger, stronger, faster,” he said. “The BCFC is also a crop league for the BC Lions, so there are a lot of opportunities between universities and going pro. There are a lot of different roads I could take.”
Proudlock attended the Sun’s spring training camp in May, and noted two of the players there had trained with the Lions.
“This is definitely not the end,” he said. “There’s been a lot of hard work to get to this point, and I don’t plan on stopping now. If I do end up staying in Kelowna, after three years, I can start trying out for the BC Lions.”
Henderson, who led the Cavaliers to a 4-4 record as the team’s starting pivot last season, credited his coaches for his success.
“They were probably there for the entirety of my career and have helped me over the years,” he said. “They took me to the camps, gave me the right references and pushed me to be a better player.”
Bacchus, a wide receiver, will join Henderson in Nanaimo. The pair struck up a solid partnership last season, with Bacchus catching plenty of Henderson’s passes.
Bacchus, who was also Airdrie’s sole representative at the 2019 Football Alberta Senior Bowl All-Star Game, said he’s excited to take the next step in his football career.
“[The BCFC] will be nothing like I’ve seen before,” he said. “Nothing like the high-school football I’m used to.”
Cavaliers head coach John Remus-Everitt, joked he felt like a “proud dad,” watching his players sign. He said the three players have been with the W.H. Croxford football program since its inception four years ago, and they represent the first graduating class to play for the team throughout their entire high-school careers.
“It’s been neat, because I’ve seen these young men come from Grade 9 all the way through,” Remus-Everitt said. “With Proudlock, for example, he was at the middle school before I came over here and I had those years with him, as well. I just remember when he was talking about moving to Croxford for Grade 9 and playing football, and how energized and motivated he was.
“To see him go through everything he’s gone through, to come out and be the young man and player he is, I do feel heavily invested in seeing them go and have that future ahead of them.”
With Bacchus, Henderson and Proudlock leading the team in their senior year, W.H. Croxford enjoyed its best-ever season, finishing with a 4-4 record and winning the Rocky View Sports Association’s Tier 2 championship.
Henderson said he is proud to end his Cavaliers football career on a high.
“It was definitely really important to me,” he said. “Never before had we had a season like that.
“We always made it consistently to the Tier 2 playoffs, but we never won it, so going there this year and finally winning, it was awesome.”
The three players said they will move to British Columbia in July for their teams’ respective training camps, after completing their diplomas. The 2019 BCFC season kicks off in August and runs until late October.
