Ryan Gallo will carry extra weight on his shoulder pads this season.
The 19-year-old Prince George product has been named defensive backs captain of the Chilliwack Huskers junior football team. Gallo, a 2010 graduate of D.P. Todd secondary school, is starting his third season with the Huskers and is more than prepared to take on a leadership role with the club.
"I'm looking forward to stepping up this year for our team," said Gallo, a six-foot, 190-pounder who learned the game in the Prince George Minor Football Association. "I'm the captain of our group so I've got to make sure everyone gets to practice and everyone's working hard and not lolly-gagging around. [During games] I'll be talking to refs about penalties and making sure that nobody is talking to the refs but the captains and the coaches. I'll make sure everyone goes out when they're supposed to go out -- that we don't have too many men or too few men on the field."
The Huskers compete in the British Columbia Football Conference and have been in training camp since July 13. Gallo was told last Friday night by defensive backs coach Jason Bates he'd be a designated leader for the team.
"I was pretty happy because [Bates] was my captain my first two years here," Gallo said. "I'm kind of filling his shoes."
Tyson St. James, a former CFL linebacker with the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers, is a first-year head coach of the Huskers. And, from what St. James has seen of Gallo thus far, he's fully supportive of placing him in a captain's role.
"He definitely is a big part of our defensive backfield," said St. James, who played in the CFL from 2000 to 2004 after a distinguished university career with the UBC Thunderbirds. "With a young team like we have, we need to have veteran leadership at each position.
"It looks like he's taken leaps and bounds from last year," St. James added. "He brings a defensive intelligence and also an intensity that I really like. He's a good example for our younger players."
The Huskers, a once-powerful club in BC junior football, have been trapped in the league cellar the past couple seasons. They have posted a woeful 0-20 record during that time and are hoping the hiring of St. James as head coach is the start of a march back toward respectability. New on-field personnel, including kicker Daniel Erickson, have also given the team reason for optimism.
"We look pretty good," Gallo said. "We have the potential to win almost every game if we play hard and put our minds to it.
"We have an all-new coaching staff and they're bringing more of a winning and family attitude to the team. Everyone seems to be sticking together and wants to move forward."
Gallo was originally recruited by the Huskers after he played in the provincial Senior Bowl in his high school graduation year. Other Prince George players on the Chilliwack club include Thom Bray, Brennan Adrian, Brandon Vickers, Travis Shields and Tyson Plain.
The Huskers play a pre-season game Saturday in Langley against the host Rams. In their first pre-season outing, the Rams defeated the Victoria-based Westshore Rebels 35-30.
Chilliwack kicks off its 10-game regular schedule Aug. 5 in Kamloops against the Broncos. Other teams in the BCFC are the Okanagan Sun of Kelowna and the Vancouver Island Raiders of Nanaimo.
The regular season runs until Oct. 13 and will be followed by playoffs. The ultimate prize is the Canadian Bowl, awarded each year to junior football's national champion. The game will be played Nov. 10 on the home field of the BC champion.
The Raiders, coached by former Prince George resident Matt Blokker, are six-time defending BCFC champs and claimed national titles in 2006, 2008 and 2009. Blokker is also president of football operations for the Raiders.
