Josh Duazo did not have the breakout season he was looking for with the Northern Raiders midget team this spring, but he’ll soon get another chance to display his talent.
The 14-year-old Airdrie native will be one of four running backs for the South team during the fourth Football Alberta Bantam Bowl at Edmonton’s Foote Field on May 23.
Duazo was one of more than 100 graduating Grade 9 Bantam players who tried out for the team last month at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.
With the likely end of his Midget season coming during the Raiders’ 28-0 loss to the Calgary Cowboys on May 11, he said he’s happy to still be playing.
“I’m going to try my hardest to shine and get noticed, but I’m sure everyone else will be too,” said Duazo, who earned his tryout invitation after a standout final season with the Airdrie Storm Bantam team last fall.
“It’s a game with all the best Bantam players. I feel like it will be like my experience with the Selects team and there is a bunch of players that I’ve played with already. I think it will be cool playing with a high amount of skill all on one team.”
“It’s great for him,” said Northern Raiders head coach Steve Kemp. “He’s going to get a lot of good coaching; he’s going to get looks from scouts and it will put him on the radar of recruitment boards.
“He’ll get noticed and he’ll get the recognition he deserve. It’s an amazing opportunity.”
Duazo also said his time with the Midget-level players this spring will help him moving forward.
“I got to play with a level that I haven’t played with yet – bigger kids, faster kids – so I think it was a good learning experience because you can pick up on a lot of things that they do,” said Duazo, who will enter Grade 10 at George McDougall High School, try out for the Mustangs football team this fall, and will also attend a training camp at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C. this summer.
“We have some good players on our team that I like to watch and see how they do things.”
“Midget is a bigger, faster game and Josh adapted to it really quickly,” Kemp said.
