Kodiaks linebacker Jordan Schanowski will soon be doing something no Creighton athlete has done before – and he almost missed his invitation.
Schanowski has been named to Team North for the upcoming Viterra Senior Bowl six-man game, a football all-star game featuring players from across Saskatchewan.
Schanowski left tryouts for the game on April 23 and was told he’d be told soon if he’d made the cut.
“They told me they’d let me know Monday if I made the team,” said Schanowski. “Monday came along and I was checking my email every 20 minutes. Nothing. Tuesday came along – nothing. Wednesday, same thing – nothing.”
Schanowski called tournament organizers, left messages and emailed game organizers, but couldn’t get through.
All hope seemed lost until he tried another tack.
“I just thought, ‘I’m just going to check my junk folder’ and there it was. I made it,” he said.
Schanowski is the first Creighton player to be named to the game since Creighton Community School started its football program three years ago.
“We’re ecstatic,” said Kodiaks head coach Ryan Karakochuk. “He’s the first Creighton kid to make it.”
Schanowski is also only the second player from the Northern Saskatchewan High School Football League to be chosen for the game, to be played May 19 to 22 at SMF Field in Saskatoon.
The first player, Robin Louis, made Team North from La Ronge’s Churchill High School. Louis later made the Canadian Junior Football League’s Saskatoon Hilltops as a defensive lineman, winning a national title with the team this year.
While there’s a precedent for players using the game as a springboard to junior football, Schanowski isn’t going that route.
“I don’t think I’ll play junior football. I just kind of want to play this last game just for fun,” he said.
Schanowski will attend Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario in the fall.
