Top grades off the field
A.N. Myer football players reap rewards of academic success with scholarships
There is a reason they are called “student athletes” and not the other way around.
It’s the same reason Tyler Scholz will receive up to $4,500 annually for as long as the next five years to offset the cost of tuition at the University of Guelph.
Scholz, a Grade 12B student who lined up on both sides of the ball on an A.N. Myer Secondary School football team that defended an Ontario championship by going undefeated, began appearing on Guelph’s radar for his contributions to the Niagara Falls school’s success of the gridiron.
However, what set the 19-year-old apart from a crowded field of prospects when the time came for the southern Ontario university to start awarding scholarships was his success in the classroom.
Only student athletes who average at least 80 per cent in their high school studies are eligible to receive an athletic scholarship, also known as an Athletic Financial Awards (AFA).
Unlike four- to five-year full rides out of the border, there are many stops along the way to graduation for AFA recipients. Defensive coordinator Doug Grandy, who represented Gryphons head coach Kevin MacNeill at Scholz’s signing ceremony, said the scholarship is renewable annually.
“Once they’re here, they have to average at least 70 per cent, and we keep track of that,” he said. “They’re expected to do well in class. That’s the No. 1 reason why they’re here.”
Mount Allison University, Laurier, St. Francis Xavier and Waterloo also expressed interest having the Niagara Falls native and son of former Canadian Football League player Ralph Scholz join their football programs.
In the end, the choice came down to Guelph and Waterloo, with the background music for the decision-making process provided by Led Zeppelin.
“It went right down to the end, to the final second,” he said. “I locked myself in my room and played an old vinyl record.”
Led Zeppelin was spinning on the turntable “because the first side ends with Stairway to Heaven.”
“It was the long side. It took me the whole time to make a decision,” Scholz recalled with a chuckle.
Points in Guelph’s favour were “family feel” and “great coaching.”
“I really felt like I was among friends.”
The Gryphons impressed the athlete in the student athlete as a team that would “more competitive” from the get go.
“A better chance of getting a Vanier,” he said, referring to the Vanier Cup, the ultimate prize for university football in Canada.
Scholz will enrol in Guelph’s general arts program after he graduates from Myer in June. His career goal is become a firefighter, a profession that appeals to the avid outdoorsman due to the potential of flexible work schedules.
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“I have a cottage up north, and I love to fish,” said Scholz, whose family’s home away from home is in Barry’s Bay, Ont.
Ralph Scholz spent six years playing in the CFL, all as an offensive lineman with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. Like his son, he played high school football at Myer.
That’s about where the similarity ends, according to Marauders head coach Dave Buchanan.
“Ty’s a chip off the old block, but he’s fast and has great hands,” Buchanan said with a laugh at the signing ceremony, looking toward the elder Scholz.
A laughing Ralph Scholz, nodding his head in agreement, accepted the good-natured needle without complaint.
“I played in the trenches. I was a big guy, I like to hit.”
In five seasons at Myer, Tyer Scholz saw action on both sides. He lined up as a receiver on offence and deep in the defensive backfield when the Marauders didn’t have possession of the football.
He’s projected to be a defensive back with the Gryphons, and he’s not upset up at leaving one of the glamour positions on the gridiron.
“I don’t like to have the spotlight on me,” Scholz said. “I like to have the spotlight on the team as a whole.”
Playing on defence also plays to his strengths coming into the program as a freshman.
“I figure I will have more success as a DB at the next level.”
Myer has won three Ontario Federation of School Athletic Association (OFSAA) championships, but Guelph knew about the Marauders before they became a perennial provincial powerhouse.
“We have a pretty good Niagara recruiter,” Grandy said in praising John Casasanta’s eye for up-andcoming talent.
Showcasing the skills of players at competitions that attract recruiters is also part of the game plan at Myer, as is networking in football circles on an ongoing basis.
“We play showcase games at universities, maintain relationships with travel football and university coaches,” said Jamie French, the Marauders defensive co-ordinator and a guidance counsellor at the high school.
Networking at Myer has included a university staff running a combine for players, guest coaches from travel teams and universities, as well as having two university scouts joining the coaching staff.
Grandy said coming from a winning program and one that stresses academics will put players such as Scholz in good stead when they start competing at the university level.
“He already has the mindset of winning coming from a championship culture.”
Tyler Scholz is the latest player to receive an AFA from an Ontario university following “The Myer Way.” Also being rewarded for achieving academic, as well as athletic, success are Jake Andrews, Western, business management; Rushon Dagelman, S/ DB, Waterloo, recreation and leisure; Shawn DeGaust, DB, Waterloo, geography; Tre Ford, QB, and twin brother Tyrell, DB, Waterloo, both recreation and leisure; and Donovan Vanegas, FB, kinesiology, Waterloo.
Noah Sparadora is expected to be next. The offensive lineman will be majoring in business administration at either Laurier or Queen’s, two programs requiring an average of at least 90 per cent.
French said “The Myer Way” emphasizes commitment, discipline, respect and teammwork, on and off the field.
“Ultimately, we are a family,” French said. “We treat them like they’re our kids, like they’re our sons.
“Some of the ways that we try to reinforce the culture of a family are to expect the veteran players to welcome and act as role models to new players.”
At Myer, football players are encouraged to achieve an average of at least 80 per cent in order to receive an AFA from the university of their choice.
“There is an expectation that all players will commit to academic success and that this supersedes their football success,” French said.
“We want success for them not just in football, but in life,” said Buchanan, a Myer graduate, Class of 1984.
Buchanan, a member of the Myer faculty and recipient of the Doug Austin Memorial Award as the Niagara Falls coach of the year in 2016, is as proud of his players’ achievement hitting the books in the classroom as he is of hitting the seam on an intricate passing play.
“All of these boys have worked just as hard in the classroom as they have on the field, maybe even harder,” he said. “It’s something we want to hang our hats on.
“What they are going to bring along with them is the expectation to compete, and to succeed.”