Image credit: CFJC Today/Sydney Chisholm

By Marty Hastings

VIKINGS RETURN

Valleyview Vikings’ football program revived; Chow Cup introduced as city championship

Aug 28, 2024 | 6:45 PM

KAMLOOPS — Grade 9 linebacker/running back Jimmy Campbell fought to stay on his feet while crashing through tackle bags.

His step-brother, Grade 10 centre Moliere Campbell, towered above most on the team while learning to anchor the offensive line.

Diminutive Grade 9 safety/wide receiver Liam Wlodarczyk acknowledged his expansion Valleyview Vikings might be in for a steep learning curve, but noted steely resolve in the face of likely adversity this year in the B.C. Secondary Schools Football Association ranks.

The scenes at practise on Tuesday (Aug. 27) morning at Valleyview secondary surely would have tickled the late Glenn Armstrong, a founding father of Vikings’ football – a once-proud program that has been dormant since folding after the 2018 campaign.

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After more than two years of planning and fundraising, the Vikings will return to the gridiron this year and field a junior varsity team in the Thompson-Okanagan Kamloops Division, along with the Westsyde Blue Wave, South Kamloops Titans, Vernon Panthers and a mixed team featuring players from Vernon high schools W.L. Seaton and Kalamalka.

“It’s more than just a game, right?” said program fundraising point man Kevin Dergez, whose son will join the Valleyview football ranks next year. “The life skills the kids are getting by playing this sport, the inclusiveness that’s involved … We can have up to 53 kids that can have a meaningful and purposeful experience on this field. That’s the reward.”

Former CFLer Brad Yamaoka, formerly head coach of the senior boys’ team at South Kamloops secondary and the junior Kamloops Broncos, is taking the reins at Valleyview, along with help from Dergez, Darryl Chow, Ron Pauwels, Joe Liberatore, Alex Adams and Max Manshadi.

Yamaoka said he is returning to the sidelines to coach alongside friends and honour Armstrong’s memory.

“He passed away last year. He put Valleyview football on the map,” Yamaoka said. “Valleyview should have a football team. It’s one of those things that should never have gone away in the first place.

“We have an opportunity here and we thought it would be a good shot to instill some old-school values here and get them going again.”

Dergez said nearly $50,000 has been raised, with help from corporate sponsors and fundraising efforts that included bottle drives, sandbag filling and barbecues.

A senior team could be formed in time for the 2025 season, but Dergez said that will hinge on player commitment and further fundraising efforts.

He noted Valleyview principal Cory Carmichael and athletic director Chad McIntosh have been influential to the program’s return, with the new season to begin next month with a game against the Blue Wave at Westsyde.

“It means a lot,” Wlodarczyk said of the opportunity to play for the Vikings. “My dad was a high school football player, so I’d like to follow in his steps.”

CHOW CUP

The senior boys’ city high school football championship has a new name in time for the 2024 season – the Chow Cup.

JP Lancaster, head coach of the South Kamloops Titans’ senior boys’ team, said the city championship was last awarded in 2002, when it was named the Wendy’s Cup.

Lancaster said news of the revival of Valleyview’s program, an uptick in Kamloops Community Football registration and increasing attendance at recent Titans-Blue Wave contests spurred the idea to revitalize the city championship.

“Let’s strike while the iron’s hot,” Lancaster said.

The Chow Cup is named after Darryl Chow, whose fingerprints are all over many football programs in the city, with coaching stints with the Vikings, Titans, Blue Wave, junior Broncos, Kamloops Cowboys and Kam High, among others.

“He’s just someone who has been very selfless to the game,” Lancaster said. “He’s not tied to any one program. He was coaching at Westsyde when his son was quarterbacking Kam High. He’s given his life to the game at large in Kamloops.”

There are only two Kamloops teams in the senior ranks this year, the Titans and Blue Wave, who will square off on Sept. 28 for the Chow Cup.

A new system for deciding which team wins the trophy will be designed when the Vikings field their next senior team.