Three BC teams travel south to play

Prepare for an invasion from the north.

Three Canadian squads will travel to North Central Washington to play games against Caribou Trail League opponents on Friday night.

It won’t be the first time CTL football teams played teams from the Great White North this season, either; Okanogan beat Bow Valley (of Alberta) 40-3 in Week 2.

With the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association finalizing a realignment last spring, the CTL lost members — Brewster and Lake Roosevelt — meaning the other teams in the league were left scrambling to find two more games for their schedule. Rather than take a bye or agree to play another team from inside the state in a home-and-home series, four CTL teams opted to add willing schools from Canada to their schedule with no strings attached.

“It was a killer trying to find four non-conference games. … Because it was late in the year, we were sending e-mails trying to find games (after the realignment),” said Chelan coach Darren Talley, whose team hosts Carson Graham Secondary on Friday. “We didn’t want to cross the mountains (for games), and we were scrambling for a month but could not find anybody because everybody’s schedule was set. … Bret Pittsinger (father of Chelan player Matt Pittsinger) got on the Internet and sent an e-mail to every high school he could find from B.C., and one of them happened to get back to him saying ‘Hey, we have an opening.’”

Cashmere, which is playing Friday against Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary from Vancouver suburb Surrey, B.C., is going to some extra lengths to bring the Panthers to town. The Lord Tweedsmuir coaches will stay at Bulldog head coach Phil Zukowski’s house, and host families in Cashmere will house the Panther players.

The Canadian teams jump at the chance to play here because of the level of play.

“They’re wanting to learn the American style of football,” said Okanogan coach Denny Neely. “I know Bow Valley was more than happy just to have an opportunity to play, and they traveled 11 hours to come down.”

The downside is not much is known about the foreign teams’ skill level.

“I expect (Carson Graham) to have top athletes, but to be honest I have no clue what they’re like. We’re all just happy to have a game and not a bye,” Talley said.

“It was the first we’d played (Bow Valley), and we didn’t know what to expect,” said Neely. “They played a wide-open, ‘Let’s throw the football up and down the field’ game. It was great for our secondary because they threw the ball so dang much.”

It’s possible the CTL schools will play more Canadian teams in 2011.

[url]http://www.wenatcheeworld.com/news/2010/sep/23/ctl-undergoes-canadian-invasion-three-teams-play/
“I think we will know after this year if this type of competition is good for all of us,” Talley said. “All those teams in Yakima might have home-and-away games, so their schedules could already be set for next year, so it wouldn’t surprise me too see us having to do this again.”

“I’d be more than happy to let my kids play another Canadian team,” said Neely. “This team came in with good size and they did good things. I don’t think it’s like a double A team playing a B league team.”