Cochrane football. From the pro ranks where Calgary Stampeders fullback Rob Cote helps his team be the best in the country to Cochrane Peewee Lions running back Dylan Neis slicing through opposing defences like a hot Ginsu knife through soft butter, the sport resonates in the community.
Whether it’s the fledgling Rocky View Rage amateur program or the dominant Cochrane High School Cobras, this town is stamping the foot in football.
At all levels.
Most recently, at the Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) level, where 2013 Cobras grad Bryce McKinnon now excels. That’s right, excels – as a 6-foot, 285-pound rookie against behemoths four inches taller and four years older.
The perennial high school all-star lineman on offence and defence started at right guard with the University of Regina Rams under a Hunter’s moon Oct. 18 at McMahon Stadium.
He was tasked with punching holes in the University of Calgary Dinos defence to spring running back Ben Graunke, and to protect quarterback Cayman Shutter, who was spinning spirals tighter than Pamela Wallin’s smile.
The 18-year-old Water Valley resident called Cochrane’s football fields home before moving to the next level. He is as adamant as sincere when he insists anyone in Cochrane football can advance.
“It’s do-able. Don’t count it out. It can be done,” McKinnon said outside the visitor’s locker room at McMahon following a 46-27 loss to the Dinos. “After Grade 11, I started putting effort in. Working out every single day. Eating better. Getting my grades up. As soon as Grade 12 came along, I had offers from schools and I took them. It’s do-able.”
He still keeps up to date with his Cobras, watching their game films stashed on the team’s web-based archive, texting advice and tips to his former teammates. McKinnon channeled the sting of being cut from Team Alberta’s football program in Grade 10 into motivation for success.
“That was the worst feeling in the world,” he recalls of the last time he got cut from any team. “I don’t want to get cut again. That was terrible. The worst feeling you could ever have. I didn’t want to feel like that ever again.”
Taken as a defensive lineman by Regina, he was quickly moved to the offensive line when injuries depleted Regina’s OL ranks.
“He’s doing really well. He’s enthusiastic,” Rams head coach Frank McCrystal related. “We needed to move some guys around. Bryce has been able to come in and call the plays and make some calls on the line. It is unique that he has started and played as much as he has.”
McCrystal mentioned McKinnon’s willingness to learn and commitment to the team as valuable assets contributing to the offensive lineman’s early success. So, for young Cochrane football players currently eyeing “the next level,” McKinnon offers this:
“To the seniors at Cochrane High and Bow Valley, any of those seniors who are thinking of going to the next level. Keep that thought. Keep that in your head. Keep fighting for that.”
