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Leaving their mark

Leaving their mark

By Michael Preston

Look no further than Toronto for the next Canadian athlete playing in an NCAA college football bowl game when the International Bowl comes to the Rogers Centre on Saturday.

Rutgers defensive end Jamaal Westerman (Brampton, ON / Notre Dame HS) will line up against Ball State at noon on January 5 in a match up featuring the Scarlet Knights from the Big East and the Cardinals from the Mid-American Conference.

The home state hero will close out his college career having enjoyed a successful senior year. He recorded 47 tackles including an impressive 13 for a combined loss of 95 yards, 8 sacks for -54 yards, 1 pass break and 11 quarterback hurries.

Also on the Rutgers roster are freshman wide receiver Jawann Westerman (Brampton, ON / Notre Dame HS) and junior defensive end Jonathan Pierre-Etienne (Montreal, QC / Vieux Montreal).

Then closing out the bowl action for this season will be Tulsa freshman Tyler Homes (Ottawa, ON / Merivale HS), who is likely to play at guard on the offensive line against Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl in Mobile, AL, on Sunday, January 6 at 8pm.

On Thursday night safety Tang Bacheiye (Windsor, ON / Sandwich HS) saw action for Kansas as the Jayhawks won the FedEx Orange Bowl with a 24-21 victory over Virginia Tech. The win was KU's second bowl victory in the last three seasons and its first Bowl Championship Series win. The Jayhawks (12-1) finished arguably their greatest season with a school-record 12 victories.

Bowl games featuring Canadians kicked off as far back as December 22. In the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl between Boise State and East Carolina Junior offensive lineman Andrew Woodruff (Victoria, BC / Victoria HS) started at right guard for the Broncos, but finished on the losing side in a narrow 41-38 defeat. Senior linebacker Josh Bean (Calgary, AB / Bishop Carroll HS) played at linebacker and on special teams as the Pirates kicked a 34-yard field goal as time expired to give East Carolina the victory.

Three days later on December 26, another trio of Canadians lined up for Central Michigan against Purdue in the Motor City Bowl at Ford Field in Detroit.

A 40-yard field goal on the game’s final play condemned CMU to a 51-48 reverse in the highest scoring Motor City Bowl in history in front of a record crowd of 60,624. The offensive shootout featured a combined 1,022 yards of offense and saw the Chippewas twice tie the score late in the game after trailing by 21 points three different times.

Sophomore defensive back Eric Fraser (Burnaby, BC / Burnaby Central) started at strong safety and recorded 3 tackles and a pass break. Junior Greg Wojt, (Mississauga ON / Goetz SS) started at offensive tackle, while Montreal-born redshirt freshman wide receiver Kito Poblah started at wide receiver and had one catch for 5 yards.

Boston College wide receiver Kevin Challenger (Montreal, QC / Vanier Prep) said farewell to his college career with a Champs Sport Bowl 24-21 Boston College victory over Michigan State in Orlando, FL.

The Eagles extended the nation's longest bowl winning streak to eight and BC (11-3) won 11 games for the first time since 1940. Challenger caught one pass for 6 yards in the win.

In opposition for Michigan State, Mike Gyetvai (Old Castle, ON / Sandwich Secondary) saw action at left guard.

That same evening at Reliant Stadium, sophomore Shomari Williams (Brampton, ON / Champlain Regional Prep) played at linebacker for Houston in the Texas Bowl in a narrow 20-13 loss to TCU.

The Meineke Car Care Bowl in Charlotte between UConn and Wake Forest featured Connecticut junior tight end and long snapper Martin Bedard (Laval, QC / Vieux Montreal), who caught 1 pass for 9 yards in a 24-10 loss to the Demon Deacons.

Before a crowd of 53,126 at Bank of America Stadium the two halves were mirror images of each other as UConn shutout Wake Forest in the first half and the Demon Deacons held the Huskies scoreless in the second.

Making a defensive impact for UCF in an AutoZone Liberty Bowl loss to Mississippi State was starting senior defensive tackle Keith Shologan (Edmonton, AB / Spruce Grove Composite). Shologan started at right tackle and was third on team with 8 tackles, including 2 for a combined loss of 5 yards.

The 10-3 defeat was the lowest scoring Liberty Bowl since Penn State beat Tulane 9-6 in 1979, in front of a record crowd of 63,816.

There was a bowl success for Penn State sophomore tight end Francis Claude (Laval, QC / Champlain Prep) as his Nittany Lions triumphed 24-17 over Texas A&M in the Valero Alamo Bowl in San Antonio.

Penn State erased an early 14-point deficit as Coach Joe Paterno, college football's leader in bowl appearances (34), led the Nittany Lions (9-4) in a thriller that brought him his record 23rd postseason win. The 81-year-old coach now has 372 career victories, one behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden for the most in major college football.