St. Paul football players will be playing a bowl game out of province this spring.

Nine St. Paul Lions from Grade 8-11 were selected to play for Alberta in the ABC Bowl in Kelowna this May.

The game works as all-star format between Alberta and BC that tends to be more geared for rural players, said St. Paul football coach Todd Tanasichuk. 

“It’s kind of unknown thing so I don’t know how much of the word is out there. But I had heard that the rural kids had a better opportunity and that’s exactly how that panned out,” said Tanasichuk.

There are nine Lions that have made Alberta’s teams at two levels.

On the younger team is Dorian Tomlinson, Dax Johnstone and Austyn Kennedy.

On the older team is Kise White, Dawson Poliakiwski, Kyler Tichkowsky, Ty Smereka, Brady Fodness and Brett Halfe.

“I think some of our boys were surprised.

“Sometimes football players are given a reputation of being cocky, in some cases that’s definitely true. But I think in general young males in our society often are unconfident. They don’t necessarily have that belief that they can climb these ladders and so when something like this happens it really opens their eyes,” said Tanasichuk.

Before the bowl game, the players will head to Lacombe for a training weekend before their trip to Kelowna.

The game is touted as a chance for scouts to look at talent they wouldn’t normally get to.