Opportunity knocks

Keon Doblej has a pretty good idea what he’s doing next fall.

A two-sport start at Westgate Collegiate and Vocational Institute, the 19-year-old Whitesand First Nation-born Doblej has all but decided to head south of the border, switch from quarterback to either defensive end or wide receiver and play NCAA football in Angola, Ind.

But first the quiet teen intends to strut his stuff in Toronto at Friday’s Damon Allen Challenge, joining 200 or so other Ontario pivots in Toronto competing at a series of skills events with scouts and college coaches watching their every move.

Doblej, a natural athlete who also starred on the basketball court in addition to leading the Tigers to a surprising high school football championship, said he’s looking forward to the opportunity to play in front of Allen, a surefire CFL hall-of-famer if there ever was one.

“It’ll be quite an experience going down there, competing with all the other students. There’s supposed to be about 200 students going down there competing in this event, so it will be a pretty big event,” the soft-spoken Doblej said on Wednesday evening, joined by coach Jon Krawchuk for a one-on-one practice session at a dandelion-infested Westgate football field.

“The competition will be pretty steep, I think.”

Doblej’s sporting roots developed out of necessity.

Growing up in Whitesand First Nation, a community of 310 near Armstrong, there was little to do but play sports, he said.

“I kind of just stuck with sports all the way through. My parents, they always played sports and I kind of just jumped at football myself and kept going,” he said.

Quarterbacking came naturally for the student-athlete, who last November, playing defensive back, snagged an errant Hammarskjold pass and scampered 42 yards the other direction and scored the lone touchdown in Westgate’s 8-3 senior boys championship win, earning the south-side school its first title since 2007.

“When I first started I was a receiver and my coach, Jon Krawchuk, he kind of pushed me into quarterback and I didn’t mind it actually,” said Doblej, who came to Thunder Bay, leaving his parents at home on the reserve, for the sole purpose of continuing his education .
“I was pretty comfortable and felt I could lead the team, help them out. We were underdogs all year. Even in the playoffs we were underdogs. We were supposed to lose in the semifinals and ended up coming out of there and ended up with a championship.”

Though he’ll likely leave quarterbacking behind in college, Doblej said he’s not expecting too much of an adjustment when he hits the field at Trine University next season, thousands of kilometers from home.

“It will be a little bit easier transfer for me, coming from a small community like White Sands First Nation, coming to Thunder Bay and being away from my parents already,” he said. “I think I’ll be able to adapt a little easier down there.”

Krawchuk, an assistant with the Tigers, has no doubt his protégé will shine at the next level.

“I think people who watched the football season this year got to see probably the top athlete in the whole league,” he said of Doblej, a recipient of the Lakehead District School Board’s Trustee’s Award, the Tom Longboat Award for athletic achievement by an Aboriginal youth and was named the Superior Secondary Schools Athletic Association’s Mr. Football winner.
“He plays both ways. He’s very athletic, and as far as going down (to Toronto), he’s going to showcase not only his skills, but the talent that’s up here in Thunder Bay.”

It’s no surprise to Krawchuk that Doblej has done so well, despite being away for the safety net of family and friends; and not just on the field, Krawchuk said.

“In school he’s excelled as a student-athlete. That’s one thing we’ve tried to instill in him. He’s done that over the years that he’s been here. He’s a very good role model. Coming from a small town it was a big adjustment in his Grade 9 and 10 years, but he adapted himself well and looked to role models and other kids who were here before him, like Seamus Postuma and kids like that.

“He was able to take over that. He’s a quiet leader and leads by example and he does that very well.”

For more information about the Damon Allen Challenge, visit www.damonallen.ca/challenge.