Football players have a choice to make
OFC Wolverines and OPFL Otters both recruiting players
Teenagers are stuck in the middle of a recruiting war between Peterborough’s two rep football teams.
For 10 years the Ontario Football Conference’s Peterborough Wolverines were the only show in town. Now there’s a choice after the upstart Peterborough Otters were granted an Ontario Provincial Football League regional division franchise.
There aren’t many area players who haven’t received calls, sometimes multiple, from both teams looking for a commitment.
“I’m feeling a lot of pressure from both teams to make a decision,” said Sam Levasseur, a Grade 11 Thomas A. Stewart student who has played four years of Wolverines football. “As far as saying they want you and what do they have to do to get you to come here. Why are you feeling uncertain? It’s both teams.”
Levasseur said he’s fully enjoyed his time with the Wolverines and his teammates while the Otters promise player development.
“On one side of the scale I want to play with the team I’ve been with so long and have loyalty to and I spent a lot of hours with trying to develop my skills. On the other side of the scale is a lot of the exact same and more opportunities for development.”
There’s pressure from peers pulling from both sides.
“It’s hard to make a decision when you have so many different influences around you,” he said.
Confusing the issue is that the leagues have different age eligibility for junior and senior varsity. The OPFL is Grade 9-10 for JV and 11-13 for SV. The OFC added an extra year to JV, now 9/11, and SV to allow players who missed the 2020 season to have one extra year at each age group.
It seems to be leaning younger players to the Otters and older ones to the Wolverines. Complicating the loyalties is that the Wolverines feature a number of high school coaches. Many of the players already play for them.
It’s been an easy decision for some players like Silas Hubert, who has loyalties to the Wolverines, or Henry Walsh, who has chosen the Otters, but many are undecided.
“The Otters are new so everyone is curious about what they have planned,” said Spencer Watchorn, a Grade 11 St. Peter’s student who has played three years of Wolverines.
The Otters organized a touch seven-on-seven fall league in the absence of football locally in 2020. They followed up with a flashy social media presence, a medium the Wolverines were virtually non-existent. It sparked interest and only recently have the Wolverines become active on social media.
“They kind of got their act together because the Otters shook the tree, so to speak,” said Watchorn. “Now both of them are offering different programs I think are amazing and the coaching staffs on both sides are great. It’s hard for me to decide.”
Watchorn hopes to get university attention and staying at JV with the Wolverines might be better than playing less at senior with the Otters.
“Everyone is being pressured because of the Otters, because it’s so new, everyone is drawn to that idea of a change instead of the culture of the Wolverines,” he said.
Ethan Coles, a Grade 12 Haliburton Highlands student, played his Grade 10 year with the Wolverines.
“It’s a difficult decision because we’ve been committed to one before,” said Coles, “but there’s a new team that shows a lot of promise.”
There’s a comfort level with the Wolverines and a buzz about the Otters but also risk, he said.
“Because it’s new we don’t know what could happen,” Coles said.
Walsh, Norwood District’s quarterback, would have played his first rep season with the Wolverines had 2020 not been cancelled. He played in the Otters fall league and wasn’t sure if the Wolverines were returning in 2021 and by the time they called he’d committed to the Otters where most of his Norwood teammates are going.
“I train with Joe Joncas who is the head coach of the Otters and the offensive co-ordinator so I’d be with him all the time. I thought that would be more beneficial than being in multiple places,” said Walsh.
Hubert, a Grade 12 Norwood student, recently committed to the Queen’s University football program. He’s unsure if he’ll play rep this year but if he does he’ll stay with the Wolverines.
“I’m a Wolverine through and through,” said Hubert. “Not that I’m against the Otters by any means but I’m a Wolverines player … They’ve done so much for me. They’re a great program, great staff, they’re all volunteers and great people.”
They played a big role, he said, in helping him get to Queen’s.
“It’s not like the Otters won’t have anything like that but the Wolverines have done that for me so I’m grateful to the whole organization,” said Hubert.