Joey Payeur
It wasn’t the position he was originally brought on board to fill.
But Brady Meeks is more than glad to contribute any way he can on either side of the ball.
The Fort Frances resident was part of the Thunder Bay Knights U16 football team which swept a two-game series in Winnipeg against a pair of Manitoba High Performance squads during Football Manitoba’s “Blue and Gold Weekend” this past Saturday.
The Knights prevailed 5-0 in their first game and 22-0 in the second.
Meeks was invited to try out for the Knights originally as a quarterback, but won even more points in training camp when he was inserted at the linebacker position.
That’s where he played for most of Saturday’s doubleheader, which had games consisting of two 25-minute halves, and where he left one Manitoba pivot in the first game wishing Meeks had been kept under centre exclusively.
“I sacked their quarterback in the first few minutes and accidentally broke his leg,” revealed the Grade 9 student at Fort High while taking a break from Muskie boys soccer practice on Monday.
“He tried to run away and I ripped at his shoulders and he fell funny.”
Meeks also made three tackles in the first game, then had by his count almost sacked the quarterback four different times in the second game while adding two more tackles.
“I think I kept up to the pace pretty good,” he evaluated.
“I was surprised in my ability to tackle the other players. It’s a big step up from varsity because it’s all Grade 11s and 12s I was playing against this weekend and as a group they’re bigger and faster than our opponents in high school.”
Meeks did get four offensive series at quarterback in both games for the Knights, mostly handing the ball off as Thunder Bay decided to feature its rushing game instead of attacking through the air.
He completed one pass in the first contest, but also was sacked four times.
“It was so hard. They kept blitzing eight guys every time when I went in,” said Meeks in head-shaking fashion.
“The second game, all I did was handoffs and quarterback keepers when I was in there,” he added.
“It was so stressful trying to run away from them. They had some big defensive ends.”
The final score in the second game could have been much worse for Manitoba.
“We should have had 40 points,” spoke Meeks ruefully.
“We got called for two holding penalties on touchdowns we scored that got called back, but they were magnificent blocks.”
Meeks culled plenty of lessons from the two game he plans to use come this fall when he returns for his second year with the Muskies gridiron squad.
“I learned how to stay calm. If you don’t, it makes the game a lot harder,” he indicated.
“I was panicking during the first two sacks I took in that first game, but after i got those out of the way, I thought I was much calmer and played better.”
The Knights have one final game on their schedule coming on Saturday in Sault Ste. Marie against a U16 team from that city.
“We’ll be alright,” offered Meeks when asked how much the long bus ride to the Soo will affect the Knights in terms of having the dreaded ‘bus legs’ feared by every team that faces lengthy highway travel.
“We’re coming off the sweep and we’ll be getting in the night before, so we should be able to get a good sleep.
“We’ll be ready to go.”
