NUMBERS GAME FOR DONNELLY
Suns 4-0 behind hot quarterback
Josh Donnelly is passing with flying colours.
After four games with the LeBoldus Golden Suns during the 2016 Regina Intercollegiate Football League season, the Grade 11 quarterback has thrown for 1,086 yards and 15 touchdowns.
“He is a great leader,” Golden Suns head coach John Foord says, “and has all the tools to lead our team to great success.”
LeBoldus is accustomed to success, having won the past four Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association 4A titles. After backing up Brayden Kuski last season, Donnelly has guided LeBoldus to a 4-0 slate this year.
“It’s great,” Donnelly, 16, says of his first year as a starter. “We have a great team. I really like the coaches and I really like the system, and we’ve got a really good supporting cast.”
Donnelly’s winning attitude quickly became apparent to Foord and the Golden Suns’ coaching staff.
Before attending the LeBoldus spring camp toward the end of Grade 8, Donnelly asked Foord for the offensive playbook in order to prepare for the workouts.
In Grade 9, Donnelly was on the Golden Suns’ practice roster in addition to playing for Regina Minor Football’s bantam Renegades. Last year, he watched Kuski and learned what it took to be a successful starter. Now it is Donnelly’s turn to pilot the perennially potent Golden Suns offence.
“He is like another coach on the field, as he completely understands the offensive system and finds ways to make those around him better,” Foord says. “Josh is a pleasure to coach and I am confident he is destined for greatness.”
The 6-foot-2, 160-pound Donnelly aspires to play university football and, if possible, advance to the professional ranks. In the meantime, he is focused on doing everything possible to help LeBoldus continue its run of prosperity.
It has been quite the progression for Donnelly, who took up football when he was in Grade 5. He was a linebacker for a year before moving to quarterback when his team had a vacancy at the position.
“As soon as I got going, I definitely enjoyed it more than I liked defence,” Donnelly says with a chuckle. “As I continued to play, I realized how much I enjoyed it and that (playing quarterback) was my thing.”
As evidence to that effect, consider Thursday’s 54-8 RIFL victory over the Balfour Bears at Leibel Field. Donnelly threw three touchdown passes — one each to Noah Dheilly, Ben Camplin and Barrett Tippett — and ran for another major during the game.
Semba Mbasela, Nick Cross and Adam Probe had TD runs for LeBoldus. Nick McIvor had a TD run for Balfour.
In other RIFL action on Thursday, the Thom Trojans defeated the Notre Dame Hounds 44-7 and the Sheldon-Williams Spartans edged the Balgonie Greenall Griffins 3532.