Ex-Lions meet on CFL field

They are separated by 10 months on their birth certificates, five pounds on the scale and zero on the height chart, but joined by a couple of championships together for Sir Allan MacNab Lions.

On Sunday, they will be on opposite sides of the oldest rivalry in Canadian football.

Daryl Waud is a third-year defensive tackle for the Toronto Argonauts and Justin Vaughn is a first-year defensive tackle for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

“It’s kind of funny how the football universe works out,” Waud said after the Argos’ practice in Toronto Thursday. “We played with each other in high school for a few years, then I continued my career at Western and he went down south to pursue his career and it’s kind of funny how it’s all linking back. I’m happy for him: a couple of MacNab kids, a couple of local guys, getting a chance in the pros. I’m looking forward to seeing him on the field.”

Both teams have committed to playing at least one National (Canadian) in the middle of the defensive line.

So, although neither is yet a starter, Waud and Vaughn are each important to the longterm success of their teams.

Slotted behind for-sure starter Ted Laurent, sometimes-starter Mike Atkinson and backup Evan Gill, the six-foot-five, 285pound Vaughn might not be on the 43-man game day roster when the season opens at Toronto’s BMO Field come late Sunday afternoon.

But he made the main roster out of training camp, after being drafted from Fordham University in the fifth round, 38th overall, in early May, a month before his 23rd birthday.

Waud, a 290-pounder who turns 24 in August, works behind starting tackle Cleyon Laing, but is in Toronto’s game-day rotation. He was drafted in the second round, 12th overall, in 2015.

They were Lions together when MacNab won the 2009 and ’10 city public high school championships.

Waud and Vaughn were both linebackers and spent time on the defensive line, while Waud also played some offence.

“It’s going to be fun, I haven’t seen him in a couple of years now,” says Vaughn, the son of former Tiger-Cat Mike Vaughn.

“Through the draft and the combine, I’ve been getting tips from him … even though he’s on the Argos.”

Waud lives in Hamilton during the off-season,

“And I pop by MacNab every so often. I like to stay close to my roots. I helped their junior football team a couple of years ago with some defensive stuff.

Says Vaughn: “My dad brought it up that two guys, not only from the same city — but from the same high school — will be on the (same) field against each other in the biggest rivalry.

“We’ll try to one-up each other. That goes back to the high school days.”