As thoroughly as he packed for a 10-day trip to Nova Scotia for the U18 Football Canada Cup, Team Alberta’s Denem Weber found room for one more possession on his return trip home to Lloydminster.
A gold medal.
Weber and Holy Rosary Raiders high school teammate Jake Wicker were part of the champion Alberta club that came back from a 21-0 deficit to defeat Ontario 37-34 in overtime in the Canada Cup final July 20 on the St. Francis Xavier University campus at Antigonish, N.S.
Read more: Pirates hold heads high after silver-medal finish
The golden finish for Weber, who wore No. 17, came just three days before his 17th birthday. What’s more, he was born one year after Alberta last won the U18 Canada Cup.
Submitted photo
Now, he has his national gold medal and a coveted Team Alberta jersey hanging in his bedroom, already adorned with multiple awards and other mementos from his young football career.
Weber could appreciate the magnitude of his latest achievement when Alberta’s coach told him that the precious jersey was his to keep.
“That was very cool, because you don’t usually get to keep the Nike jerseys, because they’re the nice ones,” Weber said.
“But we won, so he said, ‘You get to keep them,’ so that was awesome. It’s something I’ll have forever and cherish.”
SHOWS HIS COLOURS
Weber wore his Alberta colours with pride, complementing them with rolls of blue tape that he wrapped all around his football cleats.
“It just looks cool,” said Weber, who packed 12 rolls of the blue-coloured tape for the trip.
Most notably, he fashioned his relatively new position in style, adapting to defensive back after transitioning from his traditional role as a receiver.
“I originally made the team as a receiver, but they had me try out as a DB in Red Deer, because they needed someone to play DB, and I played both at this school,” Weber said outside Holy Rosary. “I transitioned to DB. That was a big turning point for me. I was a little late to everything. I wasn’t as advanced as others. But I went through (the change) and I ended up starting for all three games.”
After a decisive win over Manitoba, Alberta staged late-game comebacks to knock off Quebec and Ontario in the semifinal and championship games, respectively.
Weber has played on offence and defence at the high school level, but it’s another story in a national-calibre event.
“You can’t do that at this level,” said the six-foot-one, 175-pound Weber, who has added 10 pounds of muscle during summer workouts. “Everyone is so good at this level, it’s crazy.
“But I had some experience (as a DB), because I play here (with the Raiders), but nothing compares to guarding the guys that I was guarding. They’re phenomenal. Elite talent from Ontario and Quebec. You’re
guarding someone who’s five-foot-seven, super-duper fast, and then the next thing you’re guarding someone who’s like six-foot-seven. I was, like, ‘Wow, it’s crazy.’
“The best (competition) I had before was practising against our own (high school) team. We had a couple of Team Alberta athletes last year, and they’re also really good.
“It was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Playing receiver is a little easier than playing DB.”
As he enters his senior year at Holy Rosary, Weber is bound to attract more suitors from Canadian university teams, whose scouts were prominent on the St. F.X. campus during the Canada Cup. His versatility makes him an intriguing prospect as collegiate coaches see Weber as capable of playing at the next level as a receiver or as a defensive back.
As he continues to develop physically, Weber is already armed with the mental toughness that Alberta showed in high-pressure games at nationals.
“Our defensive co-ordinator (Cody Ehrmann of Calgary) gave one of my favourite quotes during the gold-medal game,” Weber said. “We were in the locker-room at halftime, and he said that, ‘In order to achieve your dreams, you have to be someone else’s nightmare.’
“Then, we got out (on the field) and we took it from (Ontario). We got the gold medal. It was awesome.”
NATIONAL SUPPORT
During the dramatic final, it was apparent that most people in the crowd — including players and parents from other teams — were supporting Alberta over Ontario, Weber observed.
“We scored that touchdown to send it into overtime and every other team in the nation was cheering for us,” he said. “It was a crazy feeling. That was the loudest I’ve ever heard a stadium. I couldn’t hear anything on defence.
“That feeling, when we got into overtime and we forced (Ontario) to kick a field goal, our running back Joel Thorpe rushes into the end zone, it was
phenomenal. I’ve never felt anything like it before. It was electric. Then,
everyone rushed onto the field. It was a crazy sight to see.”
During the national tournament, the tidy St. F.X. campus, with its lush green lawns, was a big attraction for the young players, who stayed in dorms and got a sample of their potential university life, from the dining hall to private rooms.
“The dorms were really nice — you got your own bathroom and your own bed,” Weber said. “That was nice to have your own little area to decompress, especially at night and going to bed.
“I’m used to (keeping my house in order). I’ve got a big family, so we all chip in. I know what I’m doing.
“I walked into some other people’s dorm rooms and I was, like, ‘Wow, it’s not very nice in here.’ I had my stuff fairly neat (comparatively).”
Weber was on top of domestic issues even before the cross-country trip as he tried to fit all the items on his team checklist into his luggage.
“That was a big thing I was stressing about, is just fitting everything in,” he said. “It’s hard for a big checklist like that, when you’re going for 10 days.
“Besides all your football stuff, you always need a dry pair of socks and everything else. Extra shorts and T-shirts and loads of socks. I probably had over 20 pair of socks. You want to switch them after every practice, because you don’t want to get blisters. Especially if you have two-a-day practices, which we did on the days leading up to our first game.
“We also had to pack for rain. It rained the last day we were there, but super-hot the rest of the days. It was very, very hot.”
No team was hotter than Alberta, which earned gold the hard way in rallying against both of its playoff-round opponents. That no-quit grittiness was characteristic of Weber, a relative latecomer to football who has made big strides in short order.
QUICK STUDY
Born in Sherwood Park, Alta., Weber lived in Manitoba for eight years before his family moved to Lloydminster when he was in Grade 9. After dabbling with hockey and martial arts earlier in his youth, he first tasted football when he came to Lloyd and joined the Red Dogs bantam team. He eventually became part of Holy Rosary’s celebrated program.
His accolades already include back-to-back Alberta high school championships and Wheatland league all-star honours with the Raiders, along with an MVP performance this spring with the Red Dogs midget team, leading the league in receiving yards.
‘LOTS OF NICKNAMES’
Not to mention working a retail job year-round, Weber is a busy young man. He attended U Sports identification camps with the Guelph Gryphons and Alberta Golden Bears in the spring, before his eventful summer with Team Alberta. He has decided to defer any more university camp auditions until after the coming high school season.
Along the way, he’s picked up a few nicknames associated with his unique first name. Denem is derived from his mother’s surname, Denham, as in the auto dealership that his grandfather founded with his brothers.
“Lots of nicknames,” the outgoing Weber said with a smile on his 17th birthday. “I think I got three (while) on Team Alberta — there’s Jean Jacket, Jeans and Levi’s.
“All my life, I’ve heard it. You get used to it.”
Now, he’s being called a national champion. His family couldn’t attend the tournament, so the birthday boy’s return home — with a gold medal to boot — was even more cause for celebration.
See next week’s Source for a story on Weber’s teammate, Jake Wicker.
Read more: Local pair golden at Football Canada Cup
