USA Football
Ten Canadians earned first-team all-stars honours while an additional two players were named to the second-team following the 2016 IFAF U19 World Championship held June 30-July 10 in Harbin, China.
Canada’s Junior National Team defeated Team USA 24-6 on July 10 to capture gold.
The Canadian contingent is headlined by the tandem of Félix Lussier-Roy and François Rocheleau.
Lussier-Roy scored a total of six touchdowns during Canada’s four games in China including the game winning 80-yard rushing touchdown to help Canada secure a berth in the finals. His final touchdown of the tournament, a 47-yard rush, helped Canada take a commanding 14-3 lead into halftime of the gold medal game.
Rocheleau remained relatively quiet until the gold medal game where he saved his best performance for last, exploding for 185 receiving yards and two long touchdown catches, from 80 and 67 yards respectively. He earned Canada’s player of the game honours in the finals.
The ten Canadians that were named first-team all-stars are:
| Name | Position | Team | Hometown |
| Samuel Lefebvre | OL | Cégep Levis-Lauzon (Laval commit) | Saint-Lambert-de-Lauzon, QC |
| Drew Desjarlais | OL | University of Windsor | Belle River, ON |
| Marc-Antoine Lemay | OL | Collège Champlain-Lennoxville | Trois-Rivières, QC |
| François Rocheleau | WR | Collège André-Grasset | Saint-Basile-le-Grand, QC |
| Félix Lussier-Roy | RB | Collège Champlain-Lennoxville | Sherbrooke, QC |
| Carson Bell | DL | Regina Thunder (CJFL) | Assiniboia, SK |
| Deshawn Stevens | LB | Kent School [CT] (Maine commit) | Toronto, ON |
| Nick Cross | DB | LeBoldus HS | Regina, SK |
| Ben Whiting | DB | Univ. of Saskatchewan | Saskatoon, SK |
| Vincent Blanchard | K | Collège Champlain-Lennoxville | St-Germain-de-Granthan, QC |
The two Canadians named to the second team are:
| Name | Position | Team | Hometown |
| Lowhya Lako | LB | Univ. of Windsor | Windsor, ON |
| Bruno Lagacé | DB | Collège André-Grasset | Boucherville, QC |
Here’s how they performed during the tournament:
Wide receiver Rocheleau earned Canada’s player of the game in the gold medal game on July 10 against the USA. Running back Lussier-Roy earned Canada’s player of the game on July 3 and 7 against the USA and Mexico. Linebacker Stevens helped lead a dominant Canada defense, recording four tournament sacks (two in opener on June 30) and one interception.
Defensive back Cross earned Canada’s player of the game on June 30 against Mexico and had a pivotal punt block in the fourth quarter. He recorded a 13 yard touchdown reception on a fake field goal in the semi-final againsnt Mexico and had a fumble recovery early in the first quarter of the gold medal game against the USA.
Defensive back Whiting had a fumble recovery in the opener, with the game tied at 16, against Mexico and recorded his lone interception in the gold medal game against the USA.
Kicker Blanchard converted a critical third down, on a 12-yard fake punt run which set up a fake field goal pass to put Canada up by ten in their semi-final game against Mexico. Linebacker Lako recorded one sack in the opener against Mexico and defensive back Lagacé tallied two interceptions and one fumble recovery during the tournament.
– With files from Football Canada
