lucas kirk

football school: South Delta freshman’s future: Mount Allison

Lucas Kirk doesn’t have time for spite, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t filled with a fight to prove others wrong.

Back in early September, as the 2014 campaign was set to begin, Kirk’s football team at Tsawwassen’s South Delta Secondary was being cast as a huge underdog as it prepared to make a jump up in the level of competition it would face at Triple A, the highest tier in the province.

Besides that, Kirk was an undersized Russell Wilson-type at around 5-foot-11, who was preparing for just his second season as a quarterback in the four-down game.

Add all of that up, and what could you logically expect?

How about the most prolific single season of passing the B.C. Triple A high school ranks have seen for at least the last decade?

And how about a performance in the Subway Bowl B.C. championship final that was so clutch it not only derailed a dynasty, it gave the program its first-ever top-tiered football title.

“It’s funny, but the more I think about that game, it’s something that just seems surreal,” says Kirk of the Sun Devils’ 55-31 win over a Mt. Douglas Rams team from Victoria, which was looking to win an unprecedented fourth straight title, “Of course, it couldn’t have been done without our entire team. In the end, it was just picture-perfect.”

That is, unless you can find an issue with a 23-of-37 passing performance for 342 yards, and six touchdown passes to five different teammates.

On the season, Kirk completed 63 per cent of his passes, throwing for 2,647 yards and 32 touchdowns in 12 games. Over his two four-down campaigns, he threw for a combined 5,111 yards and 62 touchdowns in 24 games.

Yet while he had shown class, character, will and every intangible in the book over the course of those two seasons, university programs weren’t exactly lining up to speak with him.

“With my size, coaches would say to me that maybe I should consider a different position,” admits Kirk of being asked whether he would walk away from quarterbacking. “But you can’t just give up like that. And besides, I like to prove people wrong.”

And so it is that he will begin his collegiate career in New Brunswick this fall, at Mount Allison University, some 6,100 kilometres and four time zones away from home.

“When I went on my visit during spring break it was still winter there, and snowing,” says Kirk.

“We couldn’t leave the dorms. But I got good vibes there.”

And it’s a place where he can continue to grow.

“Actually, I haven’t measured myself lately,” he laughs. “But I think I have grown. I think I’ve hit six feet.”