Jack Carson shies from the 鈥淣ext One鈥� label. But that might be increasingly hard to do for the Oak Bay rugby captain and sa国际传媒 U-18 player.
Carson paced the Barbs in the 2019 Howard Russell Cup Lower Island high school championship game with a 43-7 victory over host St. Michaels University School on Thursday.
The final featured two historically powerhouse programs that have contributed numerous national team players for sa国际传媒 at the World Cup.
鈥淭he boys think it鈥檚 really cool when our alumni stay involved and come out to help at practice,鈥� said Carson.
This generation isn鈥檛 too bad, either, as Carson was named the Don Burgess Trophy winner as Lower Island player of the year.
鈥淛ack is one of those athletes who seems to be in complete control of the game around him,鈥� said Oak Bay co-coach Peter Atkinson.
鈥淲hen he has the ball, time seems to slow down.鈥�
Oak Bay is the defending sa国际传媒 Quad-A champion after interrupting the Shawnigan Lake School Stags鈥� formidable run of eight sa国际传媒 titles in nine years.
Carson was one of five Grade 11 starters last year for Oak Bay, and he scored the first two tries in the all-Island 2018 sa国际传媒 final that keyed the Barbs鈥� upset of the Stags.
鈥淭hat experience has helped us a lot this season,鈥� he said.
Carson is the last of this generation of his family to play for the Barbs after older brothers David and James and older cousins Matthew, Chris and Nick. In a previous generation, dad Jimmy Carson and uncles Don, Frank and Len Carson played at Oak Bay.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a really unique [familial] situation and I am proud to have been part of it,鈥� said Jack Carson, the only backfield player in the family.
Cousin Nick Carson was named Vikes rookie athlete of the year this season. But Jack Carson will follow his brothers David and James in becoming a UBC Thunderbird.
Meanwhile, the Claremont Spartans defeated the Belmont Bulldogs 48-21 in the Col. Hodgkins Cup Lower Island bronze-medal game Thursday at Goudy Field.
The Island championships are next Thursday with Oak Bay and Shawnigan Lake meeting in the Quad-A final at 4 p.m. and SMUS and Brentwood College in the Double-A final at 2:30 p.m., both at UVic鈥檚 Wallace Field. The Triple-A final is between Claremont and Nanaimo District on Wednesday at 4:30 at Shawnigan Lake.
The sa国际传媒 championships are May 29 to June 1 at Rotary Bowl Stadium in Abbotsford.
