Quarterbacks. Nothing but trouble ... for the opposition.
So when three quarterbacks conspired to catch the opposition off guard, it didn’t end well for the other guys. The result was a flashy 73-yard pass-and-run touchdown for the South in its 36-15 Football Alberta Senior Bowl high school win over the visiting North on May 18 at Calgary’s McMahon Stadium.
Drawn up by Cochrane Cobras co-head coach/offensive coordinator and former University of Calgary Dinos quarterback Rob McNab, the play saw Notre Dame (Calgary) quarterback Colton Hunchak run a backside seam route down McMahon’s east sideline. Hunchak was playing slotback on this particular play, and Cobras quarterback Cody Stevens hit him about 40 yards down field with a spiral tighter than a sports writer’s wallet, Hunchak galloping the final 30 yards for the score.
It was the game’s defining play on a field stacked with Alberta high school football’s top graduating players.
“When you have a kid like Colton Hunchak out there, and you have a kid like Cody Stevens with the arm he has, you have to take advantage of that. So we decided to put our best athletes on the field to start that drive,” said McNab, South team’s offensive coordinator, of his QB-to-QB play. Hunchak played quarterback, slotback and punter, earning Senior Bowl South MVP for his efforts. “We just saw the safety not reacting properly. Cody laid that sucker out forever. Credit to Colton, he kept running. A lot of kids would have given up.”
Stevens rushed for a one-yard touchdown to go with his strike to Hunchak.
Quarterbacks weren’t the only players involved. Stevens’s Cobras teammates Adam Rask (wide receiver) and Aidan Smith (offensive line) also lined up for South. Bow Valley High School Bobcats defensive back, and University of Calgary Dinos recruit, Scott Haigh was spotted at free safety.
“It was fun. It’s a good challenge,” Haigh said. “We watched some film. We pretty much knew what they were going to do.”
Rask had a completion on the day and was asked to do some heavy lifting for the South.
“We did have some new things that we hadn’t done before. I had to play tight end some times. It was a good experience,” Rask said of his work in the trenches. “I’m not a big guy at all. I had to try and seal them out outside and try to use leverage more than power.”
Smith was part of South’s right-side wrecking crew creating gaping holes through which running backs Albert Banahene (St. Mary’s Calgary) and Tristan Getzinger (Medicine Hat) ran rampant. Hunchak, too, took advantage of his offensive line while at quarterback, scrambling for several sizable gains against over-matched North.
Smith, who played right guard and some centre at Senior Bowl, clearly enjoyed himself.
“It was good. It was fun. All the offensive linemen today had something to prove,” he said. “ And I think we did. It was good. This has been an amazing experience all around.”
For quarterback Stevens, it was just another day at the office. The Cobras classic drop-back chucker, who’s vying for a quarterbacking role with the Calgary Colts junior club this summer, looked right at home among Alberta’s top graduating high school football players.
“We had a good game plan going,” he said. “I thought we were very efficient in what we did. We did it well.”
Well enough to beat the North’s best 36-15.
