The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Rourke `looking for a chance' after record-setting season By Scott Radley Hamilton Spectator 35 | Thursday, February 4, 2016 | OAKVILLE BEAVER | www.insideHALTON.com He figured Wednesday would be the best day of his life. National Signing Day is the first moment American universities can lock up their prized recruits for next year's football season. High schools often mark the occasion by holding pep rallies at which their top athletes sign their commitments and pull on their new university's cap. Yet for Canada's top high school quarterback, it's looking like the promise it once held will now be overtaken by disappointment. "I just want to get recruitment over because it's a horrible process," Nathan Rourke says. After a sensational Grade 11 season at Holy Trinity Secondary, the 17-year-old who dreamed of playing for a big American university before making the NFL, decided to go south for his senior year. Playing at a prep school in Alabama would give him vastly more exposure to NCAA scouts which would open many more doors. Assuming he did well. He did. Rourke threw a ridiculous 59 touchdown passes against only three interceptions and tossed for 3,789 yards on the strength of a 75-per-cent completion rate. Remarkably, he did all this while playing more than half a game only twice all season because his side was usually so far ahead. To cap everything off, he led his team to a state championship. His work done, he figured the calls with offers would start flowing. Especially since those gaudy TD numbers tied him for Alabama's all-time record. Instead, crickets. OK, that's not exactly true. He had one expression of interest from a Division II school. But he didn't do all this work and uproot his Oakville quarterback Nathan Rourke was disappointed with the lack of scholarship offers despite a recordsetting, championship season in Alabama. | photo by Eric Riehl-- Oakville Beaver every D1 school to see which didn't have a quarterback committed from the 2016 high school class. They reached out to every single one of them. More than 20 in all. Only one even bothered to respond but only to say no thanks. The rejection came with no feedback. So not only does he not have a school for next fall, he really doesn't know why. At 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, it's unlikely a size issue. He runs a 4.7-second 40-yarddash -- last year's first-overall NFL pick Jameis Winston runs a 4.97 -- so speed isn't a problem. With his resume and stats it surely can't be a concern that he can't throw the ball. His highlight reel shows a player who can scramble and escape from trouble, so that likely isn't it either. What is it then? "That's what we're wondering, too," Rourke says. McMaster football recruiting co-ordinator Frank Gesztesi says there's no blind spot here. The kid really is as good as his numbers suggest. The issue probably has more to do with timing. Many of the top U.S. quarterbacks are tracked from the time they're in middle school or the start of high school at the latest and receive an offer in Grade 11. As a result, most schools already have locked in their QB. And that means Rourke may have arrived in Alabama a year late. Speaking with more than a hint of southern drawl that he's picked up in just nine months in the suburbs of Montgomery, Rourke wonders if that's what's happened. Whatever the reason, he admits he's frustrated with the whole process. Today, he says he would literally take anything. If any D1 school offered him a chance to come in and compete even for a thirdstring job, he'd take it no questions asked. Even if he wasn't sure where the university was located. "I just need a shot to prove what I can do," he says. But what about back home? Every CIS coach would surely lop off a digit to bring him in as a recruit. He would almost certainly be the biggest catch of any school's off-season. He'd set some school up beautifully for the next five years. Would he consider that? He chooses his words carefully. There's no recent history of any quarterback playing university ball north of the border and then making the leap to the pros down south. Never say never, but no, it's not his first choice. Probably not even his second choice. He'll look at junior colleges if no last-minute offer lands and hope to make the leap into a major school a year or two down the road. The uncertainty is no fun. But the dream isn't dead. "I'm just looking for a chance," he says. "It doesn't matter what the situation is." life to settle for something less than his goal. When it became apparent that nothing was happening, he and his parents researched Garvey earns CHA player-of-week honours Oakville's Maeve Garvey was named the College Hockey America player of the week after scoring twice and setting up two more in a weekend sweep of Lindenwood. The junior forward for the Robert Morris Colonials scored to break a 2-2 with 3:36 to play in the second period. She then set up Mackenzie Johnston midway through the third February 19 -21 INTERNATIONAL CENTRE · MISSISSAUGA period to make it 4-2. Garvey matched her career-best three-point night by adding her second goal of the game into an empty net. The following night, Garvey opened the scoring in a 3-2 Robert Morris overtime victory. Garvey has seven goals and a career-best 17 points for the Colonials. Compliments of Georgian College GENERAL ADMISSION 1964: $15 SENIORS 65+: $12 UNDER 18 FREE Golf Pros Rob Bernard Martin Chuck and more Hole-In-One Challenge Details online $10,000 Spring Into Golf 5, 000 Green Fee Giveaway It's Back For more information call 289-293-0718 torontogolfshow.com