Aselstyne, Bigham earn trip to Nova Scotia

The high school season ended seven months ago, but Ryan Aselstyne and Jacob Bigham have a lot of football ahead of them.

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Aselstyne, who played five seasons with the Valleyview Vikings and is graduating this month, will join Bigham, a graduating five-year member of the NorKam Saints, on the provincial under-18 team that will take part in the Football Canada Cup in Wolfville, N.S., next month.

The boys are among 40 players from B.C., who made the team after a lengthy tryout process, which started in April.

First, there was a regional tryout at Hillside Stadium. Then, the boys were invited to Burnaby along with 95 others in May. Finally, the team was selected after a game last weekend against first- and second-year players on the South Surrey Rams junior team.

Aselstyne and Bigham both endured the tryouts, but the actual Canada Cup may be more difficult — each team will play three games in seven days.

“It’s going to be rough,” said Aselstyne, a 5-foot-11, 195-pound linebacker. “I’m used to playing one game a week — it will be different.”

Bigham, a 6-foot-1, 255-pounder, will be playing offensive lineman for Team B.C. Although the Saints had a strong season, making it to the provincial tournament in November, Bigham knows that next month’s tournament will be the most important of his young career.

“This will be the biggest competition yet,” Bigham said. “I’ve heard that there’s supposed to be scouts from every school in Canada, and even some from the U.S.”

The eight-team Canada Cup is scheduled to start July 11, with four games. B.C. will open with a quarterfinal against Ontario East in the day’s late game. Each team also will play on July 14, with the last games, including the final, scheduled for July 17.

Aselstyne and Bigham haven’t had much of a chance to get to know their new teammates, but neither feels that it will be much of an issue.

“I got over that after the first week,” said Aselstyne, 17. “The first day actually.”

“A lot of the guys on the team are from AAA schools, and NorKam is AA, so I don’t really know a lot of them,” added the 17-year-old Bigham. “I just want to go out and play as hard as I can on every snap, and try not to worry about everything else.”

Through five years at Valleyview, Aselstyne played pretty well every position there is, from offensive lineman to receiver, defensive lineman to linebacker, slotback and running back.

He actually was an excellent running back in his senior year, but decided he wanted to be a linebacker on Team B.C.

“I tried out as a linebacker — I thought I would have a better chance there,” he said. “For Team B.C., I sort of preferred to play linebacker — I think I have more to offer as a linebacker, really.”

Bigham, meanwhile, will be snapping balls to quarterbacks and kickers — he’s also a long-snapper — to whom he has never before snapped.

But these guys are the best in the province, so Bigham doesn’t foresee a problem.

“You get used to it pretty quick,” he said. “These guys are really good players, so they know what they’re doing.”

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By MARK HUNTER
Daily News Sports Reporter