Two student-athletes from Airdrie will enjoy one of their final hurrahs of high-school football on May 23, as members of Team South at the Football Alberta Senior Bowl.
The Senior Bowl is an annual all-star game pitting the top 40 graduating Grade 12 football players from northern Alberta against the top 40 Grade 12s from southern Alberta. Due to the pandemic, the last Senior Bowl was held in 2019.
After a three-day tryout in late April at Calgary's Shouldice Athletic Park, Micai St. Lewis and MJ Doyle-Marshall from Airdrie were selected as members of Team South.
St. Lewis, a defensive end/tackle for the George McDougall Mustangs, said it will be an honour and a privilege to represent Airdrie and George McDougall at the upcoming game, which will be held in Lacombe.
“It’s a wonderful feeling,” the 18-year-old said. “Every time I sit down and reflect on the choices I’ve made in the last few years, it’s really a blessing. Not many people get to this point, so I’m very happy to be representing my school, family, friends, teammates, coaches, and the people I love, in this game.”
The Grade 12 athlete said he has devoted the last few years to his football development, and that he feels making the Team South roster is a testament to that dedication and hard work.
“I basically converted my life and dedicated my life to playing football and working as hard as I can to get to the next level and become the best player I can be,” St. Lewis said. “Just knowing I’m among some of the best of the best [in the province], it’s very humbling and brings me joy to know my coaches have led me in the right direction.”
A dominant force on the defensive line last season, St. Lewis played a key role in the Mustangs' memorable 2021 campaign. The season saw George McDougall finish second in the Rocky View Sports Association (RVSA) with a 8-1 record before going out in the first round of the Football Alberta provincials.
After the Senior Bowl, St. Lewis plans to continue his football career next fall, signing his letter of intent in 2021 to play for the University of Calgary Dinos – a perennially strong program in the Canada West conference of U SPORTS.
He said what attracted him to the U of C was a combination of the school's proximity to Airdrie, the competitiveness of the Dinos football team, and the atmosphere he experienced when recently taking part in the team's spring training camp.
“When I went there for my visit, I really liked the campus,” he said. “The coaching is great and I love the way they run things. I’ve heard a lot of great things about the program and I just got back from the camp as well. It was amazing and they had a lot of good pointers. It’s overall a really good school and I think I’ll fit in there.”
As for Airdrie's other representative in this year's Senior Bowl, Doyle-Marshall was the focal point of the W.H. Croxford Cavaliers offence in the 2021 season, according to head coach Josiah Donahue. The head coach mentioned the 17-year-old running back scored all three of the Cavaliers' touchdowns in the team's final game of the season, and was always eager to run the ball.
“We want to be a hard-nosed running football team and MJ was the face of that,” he said. “He had lots of compliments throughout the season and I noticed he was one of the hardest runners I've seen in my years of coaching. He was able to do anything we asked of him, and you can't ask much more than that.
“We're excited to see where he goes in the future.”
Doyle-Marshall, who moved to Airdrie from Scarborough, Ont. last year, said he was proud to make Team South. He added he enjoyed matching up against some of southern Alberta's top players at the Senior Bowl tryouts.
“I came in to the tryouts just knowing to stay focused and play my own game,” he said. “I was fighting more for a starting spot more than to just make it on the team. But when I heard I made the team, I started running around and jumping.”
Doyle-Marshall said his goal following graduation is to play for a university team in Canada for two years, and then move south to see out his collegiate career in the United States, with the ultimate goal of playing professionally.
In addition to the two Airdrie players, eight other players from the RVSA cracked the Team South roster, including five from the championship-winning Cochrane Cobras, two from the Chestermere Lakers, and one from the Springbank Phoenix.
The game will be streamed May 23, starting at noon, with details provided at footballalberta.ab.ca
