'I was tearing up': Yorkton welcomes back six local grads in Regina Thunder pre-season game
The last time Reece McCormick took to the gridiron at Kinsmen Century Field, he was a grade 10 student at Yorkton Regional High School.
With his grade 11 year dashed by an MCL injury, grade 12 for the Yorkton product saw the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, halting any chance to take the field as a senior.
Fast forward to Saturday, McCormick — fresh off a training camp with the Saskatchewan Roughriders — admitted it was emotional running onto the field where his football dream flourished.
“I was tearing up when I came in here,” he said following the 46-3 pre-season victory for the Regina Thunder over the Winnipeg Rifles.
McCormick was one of six Yorkton products on the field for the Thunder Saturday.
He commended the Yorkton Minor Football organization for their work in getting them to the Junior-calibre game.
“The organization here produces a lot of great athletes and they’re going to continue to do so,” McCormick said.
“It’s just nice to have a couple of guys that you know, that you grew up on the team, especially after high school, and you get to keep creating that bond with them … it’s pretty special.”
It wasn’t just the players of the Thunder that had a bit of Yorkton flare to them.
Jason Boyda, a co-head coach for the local Raider Gridder Football program, was patrolling the sidelines as a coach for the team.
He too, described the 2022 Yorkton Bowl as emotional.
“For them (the Yorkton players) to come back on our gridiron, and able to play one more time because COVID stole what it stole — that’s why I had tears. I was so emotional,” said Boyda.
In terms of the work Yorkton Minor Football has put in — Boyda said it’s because they’re doing things the right way, specifically early on in these athletes’ careers.
“Our coaches (go) to clinics, the older coaches we have here, we coach them up. With community support and the players buying into what we do — where they want to be in minor football … hard work pays off. The six guys that we have with the Regina Thunder, their hard work has paid off. Now they’re playing at the next level,” he explained.
Boyda wasn’t just a coach Saturday, either.
His son, Jaxon, was one of those six Yorkton players.
The wide receiver caught a touchdown in the second half, a moment the coach — and the father — won’t soon forget.
“I’m going to be honest … when he scored, good thing I got these (sunglasses) on, because my eyes welled up,” Boyda said.
“I had tears coming down because it was such an emotional thing. I’m a dad, right? … That feeling was phenomenal. I can’t just put it into words, pretty proud moment for me.”
All in all, it’s been a proud summer for Yorkton Minor Football. Two grads were chosen in the 2022 CFL Draft in B.C.’s Noah Zerr and Montreal’s Peter Kozushka.
And with a packed crowd full of young players from Yorkton Minor Football in attendance Saturday, it may not be long before more and more young players reach that next level from the Parkland.
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