KITCHENER — Tyler Varga has a target on his chest.
Waterloo Region’s best high school running back will be the centre of attention every time he takes to the field for the Cameron Heights Gaels. Opposing defenders will be looking to take him down and take him down hard.
The rock-solid, five-foot-10, 215-pounder is ready for the challenge.
“I do realize that but I want them to realize that I’m not going to let up either. They’re going to feel it too,” said Varga. “That’s my style. I don’t back down and I’m going to hit you hard, no matter who you are.”
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The Grade 12 student is a beast with all the tools. He can run. He can catch. He can block. He can return kicks. He can play defence.
He has also managed to turn heads south of the border. Varga has become a coveted player by NCAA Division 1 schools thanks to his outstanding performances this summer at a series of camps run by the National Underclassmen Combine Football Network.
Varga was just hoping to see how he stacked up against American running backs when he attended his first combine in Detroit in May. He couldn’t believe how it turned out. He was named the top running back in Detroit and invited to another camp in Indianapolis.
He was also outstanding at the second combine and received an invitation to National Underclassmen Combine’s Ultimate 100 event in Oklahoma in July. He left that camp rated as the organization’s No. 3 high school running back in the United States.
“He has great change in direction, excellent athleticism and can catch the ball really well out of the backfield. He has all the tools,” network president David Schuman said over the phone from New Jersey.
The network was so impressed with Varga that he was asked to play in the inaugural All-World Gridiron Classic Game on Dec. 31 at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C. He will be one of three Canadian competing, joining elite high school seniors from the U.S., Mexico and Europe. A media conference is scheduled for Cameron Heights next Tuesday to announce game details and confirm Varga’s participation in it.
American universities have taken notice. Varga has received verbal scholarship offers from Baylor and Dartmouth, while more than 20 U.S. schools have expressed interest. That list includes the likes of Colorado, California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Tennessee and Harvard.
Varga isn’t tipping his hand as to which school he favours, but the gifted student with a 90 per cent average in Cameron’s International Baccalaureate program lists Harvard as one of his favourite schools on his football combine network profile page.
“Wherever I end up going, I’m going for academics first. That’s what is most important,” said Varga, who is considering a career in medicine. “I love football, don’t get me wrong, but I’m going to school for an education.”
Varga, who also suits up for the Cambridge Lions of the Ontario Varsity Football League, is hopeful the Gaels can improve on last year’s season that saw them reach the A division championship before falling to Rez. He believes he has reason to be optimistic. He points out the current squad is pretty much the same unit that captured the WCSSAA junior title two years ago.
The loss to Rez is something that still goes through Varga’s mind. He played the game with a broken hand and a sprained ankle, but refuses to make excuses. The Gaels just lost to a better team on that Saturday afternoon at University Stadium. Cameron also fell to Rez during the regular season in an overtime thriller under the lights at Centennial Stadium.
“They were great games but they seemed to have our number a little bit last year. We’re expecting them to be a good team again because they are well coached and they come out firing,” said Varga.
He’s not about to concede a thing to the two-time champions, however.
“We won a championship two years ago in junior and this is essentially that team reunited plus a couple of fifth-year guys that can add to what we do as a team this season. We’re looking to win a championship and I think that’s what all the guys on the team feel . . . that we can do it again, just like in junior.”
The No. 1 on Varga’s green-and-gold jersey will be the bull’s-eye starting Friday — his 17th birthday — when the Gaels host the WCI Vikings in a Waterloo County senior boys football league game.
The actual WCSSAA senior boys football schedule begins Wednesday when the Resurrection Phoenix begin the defence of their title on the road against the Elmira Lancers. The Phoenix are riding a 20-game undefeated streak heading into the 3 p.m. contest. Also Wednesday, Glenview Park visits Forest Heights and St. David takes on Preston at Rogers Field in Cambridge.
On Thursday, it’s St. Benedict at Huron Heights, Bluevale at Jacob Hespeler, KCI at St. Mary’s, and Eastwood at St. Mary’s.
Friday’s other games are Southwood at Sir John A. Macdonald and Grand River at Galt.
mbryson@therecord.com