Massey linebacker Burgoyne off to Prince George

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This article was published 30/06/2023 (1022 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lucas Burgoyne’s breakout season started long before the first Winnipeg High School Football League snap of 2022.

The Vincent Massey Viking linebacker admits he had a rocky junior year but turned it around in a big way. He anchored the Vikings’ defence during a perfect WHSFL Division 2 season and was named a league all-star.

Now, he’s off to join the Prince George Kodiaks of the Canadian Junior Football League.

“Man, I’m excited,” Burgoyne said. “I went out there in April for a spring camp. A lot of great guys out there, great coaches too. I’m just excited to keep playing as long as I can.

“I was wanting to go to B.C. … It’s good football, too. I’m excited for the competition. The Okanagan Sun won the last two years so I’m excited to play them.”

The six-foot-one, 205-pound senior wasn’t close to that when he donned a Massey jersey for the first time in Grade 9. Well, few players are. But he stood just five-foot-three and weighed 140 pounds.

Burgoyne hit a growth spurt during the COVID-19 pandemic, growing seven inches, but also packed on the kind of weight that wouldn’t help him chase running backs down.

He watched his teammates transform their bodies in the weight room — namely quarterback Justin Sharp, who committed to the University of Manitoba Bisons — and realized he could change.

“Justin was a big person I looked at. I saw Justin in the gym, saw Celsy (Lucas Cels) in the gym and said, ‘I gotta figure something out,’” Burgoyne said. “If I want to keep playing football I gotta do something about it. I started going to the gym and started enjoying myself more.”

On the field, Burgoyne credits defensive co-ordinator Adam McClelland with helping him develop into a fundamental, hard-hitting linebacker.

Burgoyne was Massey’s leading tackler game after game. He enjoyed all the wins but relished the games when not everything went the Vikings’ way. The first was their John Taylor game in September when they trailed 26-0 in the first half.

“Even when we were losing me and Kevin (Garcia) were talking. It was halftime and we were down by 12 talking like ‘This is the most fun we’ve ever had,’” Burgoyne said, adding only the provincial final topped it. “That Sturgeon game? That’s the most fun game I’ve ever played in my entire life. It’s not a matter of winning or losing, I think just playing your hardest. We played our hardest every game and the outcome was just us winning.”

Burgoyne never lost a high school football game. His JV squad went undefeated in 2019, then he missed the 2020 season due to the pandemic. In 2021, Massey swept the WHSFL’s Westman Division, which included two wins over the Crocus Plainsmen, Portage Trojans and Steinbach Sabres before a 31-23 triumph over Steinbach in the title game.

He’s in for a rude awakening as Prince George went 1-9 last year but he’s ready to learn from a few defeats.

On paper, that first loss is supposed to come when the Kodiaks open their season at home against Okanagan on July 29.

“I think it’s good. I’m ready,” Burgoyne said. “It’ll hurt obviously when it does happen but I’m ready and I’m going to try my best to make sure it doesn’t happen.”

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