A handful of Surrey football players are in Texas this week, aiming to bring a world football title back north of the border.
On Wednesday night, Football Canada’s under-18 team will hit the gridiron in Dallas to take on an American U18 squad in the annual International Bowl.
The game kicks off at AT&T Stadium – home of the Dallas Cowboys – at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time.
Canada’s 40-player roster includes a handful of local talent – Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary running back Noah Anderson, Seaquam Secondary defensive back Corbin Grant and defensive lineman Kaishaun Carter, a Surrey resident who attends St. Thomas More Collegiate in Burnaby.
Surrey’s Cory Philpot – a former BC Lions star and longtime B.C. high-school football coach – is also on the Team Canada coaching staff.
Other members of the team from B.C. include offensive lineman Matthew Ounsted, from Victoria, and receiver Nolan Ulm, from Kelowna.
Each player chosen for the team participated for their respective province in the Canada Cup U18 tournament last summer, a news release notes.
Considering the popularity of football in the United States – not to mention the large pool of players U.S. coaches have to choose from – one might assume that Team USA would be the odds-on favourite in such a border battle.
Canada has been historically successful against their southern rivals, however, winning five of the last seven International Bowl competitions.
Last year, however, the U.S. won 27-10.
Anderson – who led Tweedsmuir to the B.C. triple-A championship game last season – is one of four running backs on the Canadian roster.
The six-foot-two, 245-pound Carter, meanwhile, is described in a Football Canada news release as a “sack artist” who has been “the heart and soul” of the defensive end position for St. Thomas More for the last four seasons.