Logan Buchwitz has waited months to get back in action with the G.W. Graham football Grizzlies, but COVID-19 is getting in the way.
The talented teenager heads into his Grade 12 campaign fully healed from a torn hamstring that wiped out his 2019 season. He’s been training hard since January, knowing there’s a lot on the line this year, for him and his team.
But with the pandemic still raging in B.C., another season seems destined for disruption.
“We are practicing, but as far as games go, we would only be playing Abbotsford and Sardis,” Buchwitz said. “That could change, but that’s what we know at the moment. I’m excited to play Sardis because I know a lot of people on that team, but I am hoping we have a full season.”
Like a lot of people, Buchwitz assumed COVID-19 would be vanquished in a couple months and life would return to normal.
Normal in 2020 would have meant leading G.W. Graham into battle in the AAA division, facing the New Westminster Hyacks and other heavyweights.
Buchwitz was really looking forward to testing himself against B.C.’s best.
“It’s very sad, to say the least and it’s very hard to put into words what I feel, but I’m still hopeful,” he said.
While every football player would feel the pain of a cancelled/shortened schedule, it may impact Buchwitz more than most. Arguably the best Chilliwack talent since Rick Klassen roamed the field for Sardis secondary in the 1970s, Buchwitz has the ability to go much further than high school football.
READ MORE: Chilliwack’s Logan Buchwitz turns heads at 2018 International Bowl
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He could certainly play at the Canadian university level, is probably good enough for NCAA and has been identified as a potential future pro.
“My goal is definitely a division one school down south, and I know a bunch of very supportive coaches in Canada and the U.S. who want to help me do that,” Buchwitz said. “If we don’t have a season where I can get more on film, we’ll send out some of the film that I do have from previous seasons and playing sevens (football in Bellingham), and then get more film from doing drills and stuff.
“We’ll just work with what I do have.”
If Buchwitz needed more motivation and an example of what’s possible, he had only to turn on the TV Monday night.
Abbotsford’s Chase Claypool made his National Football League debut with the Pittsburgh Steelers, catching two balls for 39 yards in a 26-16 win over the New York Giants.
Claypool’s path from Abbotsford secondary to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the NFL is one that Buchwitz would surely love to follow.
“It’s insane that a kid from Abbotsford is playing for Pittsburgh, and I keep that in mind as proof that wherever you’re from and whatever you came from, you can make it.”
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eric.welsh@theprogress.com
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