Canada Cup alum Noah Picton leads West to victory

18 national team alumni compete in U Sports showcase

Photo credit: USports

Reigning U Sports football player of the year and two-time (2011, 2012) Football Canada Cup alumnus Noah Picton led the West to 37-13 victory on Saturday May 12 at the 2017 Valero East-West Bowl at the University of Laval in Quebec City.

The Regina Rams’ 2016 Hec Crighton winning quarterback completed 15 of 20 passes for 228-yards including two fourth quarter passing touchdowns while also recording a rushing major late in the opening half. The performance earned Picton his side’s player of the game honours.

“It was good to cap off the week like that!” said Picton, on USports.ca.

“With these all-star games, you never know how well you’re going to gel with your teammates or what the defence is going to throw at you. I thought that as a whole, our team executed on offence and defence and we just connected together at the right time.”

“Our offensive line in Regina is good, but we had stars here. It sometimes felt like being in front of a brick wall!”

The West’s offensive line included four national team alumni – Brett Lawrence, Mark Korte, Ryan Sceviour and Darius Ciraco – that played for Canada at the International Bowl.

In all, Picton’s side dressed a total of 14 former national team players while the East included an additional four players that previously represented Canada at either the International Bowl or IFAF U19 World Championship.

Three former junior national team alumni had strong performances on Saturday afternoon.

Former 2014 junior national team players Jayden McKoy (Manitoba Bisons) and Daniel Nesbit (Regina Rams) each recorded an interception for the West defence. Nesbit also tallied 2.5 total tackles along with one sack. McKoy represented Manitoba at the 2012 Canada Cup in London, Ontario while Nesbit represented Saskatchewan the next year in Moncton, NB.

Quarterback Hugo Richard, who helped Canada to 2012 IFAF U19 World Championship gold in Austin, Texas led the East with 153-yards, connecting on 11 of 21 passes.  The Rouge et Or pivot led Quebec to gold at the 2011 Canada Cup in Lethbridge, Alberta.

Box score: http://en.usports.ca/eastwestbowl/2017/Boxscore/20170513_krb1.xml

Game recap: http://en.usports.ca/eastwestbowl/2017/fball/releases/Game_Recap

This post is also available in: French