Rhett Vavra’s football season isn’t over just yet it appears. The Swift Current Comp. Colts star has been named to the second annual Nissan All-Canadian TITAN team, which is comprised of 70 high school players from 49 communities across nine provinces.
Vavra will be in Calgary for four days during the 107th Grey Cup festivities. The event will include training opportunities with the top high school players in the country, they will attend the CFL Awards, play in an exhibition game on Saturday, and watch the Grey Cup game on Sunday at McMahon Stadium.
Vavra is one of six Saskatchewan players named to the team. “I’m most excited that a few of my buddies are going up so I’m going to go up with them, practice and play a game with them. It sounds like a lot of fun as well,” he said.
The grade 11 receiver won league Most Valuable Player honours while helping the Colts to a second-place finish in the SHSAA 12-Man Rural 5A Football League this past season.
The Colts led Yorkton 17-14 before eventually losing the league final 31-17 to the Raiders, who eventually defeated Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney in the 5A provincial final.
“I thought we fought hard against Yorkton in the final. Again we lost one of our good players right off the first play, so that obviously made an impact, but we should have won. It was just heart-breaking to hear that BJM lost to Yorkton. We could potentially have won provs.”
“It was cool,” he said of his league hardware. “At the time I was still upset with the heartbreak from Yorkton. But I guess the three awards just cheered me up a little bit. It was still really cool.”
Vavra has one year of high school football left with the Colts. “We are losing a few guys, but we still should be pretty well-rounded. We still got some boys on the team, so I think we are still gonna have a good season.”
He also won a national title with Team Saskatchewan at the Football Canada Cup Championship in Kingston, ON in July.
After reviewing the nomination submissions, the players selected to join the 2019 Nissan All-Canadian TITAN team were chosen by a four-person celebrity judging panel that included: Brodie Lawson, CFL Host; Bryan Baeumler, HGTV Host; Jesse Lumsden, former CFL player and three-time Olympian; and Travis Lulay, former CFL player and BC Lions Business Operations.
