The football life of Rielly
Rielly Sexton will be getting a football thrill of a lifetime early in 2019.
The Grade 11 student at Saint Paul Catholic High School in Niagara Falls has been named to the Team Ontario squad that will play Team USA in an International Bowl game Jan. 12 at AT&T Stadium in Dallas, Texas. The stadium is where the National Football League’s Dallas Cowboys player their home games.
“I am looking forward to playing in the Dallas Cowboys stadium and the whole experience down in the States,” the 16-year-old said.
Sexton made the team following a day-long tryout held Dec. 1 in Toronto.
“At first, I was kind of nervous,” he said. “I didn’t know what to expect but once I got there, I started to calm down and get a feel for things.
“I started to play football which is what I have always done.”
The 5-foot-11, 200-pound linebacker thought he had a good chance to crack the Team Ontario roster following the tryout.
“I was confident that I had made it because I felt great and I thought that I had had a good day.”
Two days after the tryout, he received an email informing him that he had made the squad.
“I was excited, very proud of myself and proud of the work that I had put in,” he said.
Sexton has been working out at Crossfit Versa for the past three years in addition to all the training he does at Saint Paul.
“He’s a dedicated athlete and football player and he enjoys the game,” Saint Paul senior football coach Rick Oreskovich. ”He plays for two seasons every year, he takes a lot of interest it and he prepares his body for it.”
Sexton is also a cerebral player.
“He mentally prepares himself for the games and he’s focused and easy to coach.
Oreskovich feels Sexton has a great future in football.
“I think he is going to get bigger and stronger over the years,” he said. “He has a lot of potential if he keeps applying himself academically and athletically.”
Sexton has a goal in mind for his football career.
“I am hoping to play university football and see how it goes from there,” he said.
Sexton is coming off an exciting season and is still on a high from the Saint Paul Patriots’ magical run to a Southern Ontario Secondary Schools Association championship.
“The season had lots up and downs,” he said. “At the beginning of the season, we had lots of downs losing our first two games and we all came together and fought back.”
Sexton started playing football about 10 years ago in the Niagara minor system with the Niagara Falls Stampeders. He moved on to play travel ball with the Niagara Generals and the Niagara Spears. This summer, he was on the Spears Tier 1 junior varsity squad.
He leaves for Texas Jan. 5 and the game will be played Jan. 12. Leading up to the game, there will be practices every day.
The 2018 International Bowl 12-game series pits teams from the United States against squads from Canada, Japan, Mexico and the Nordic countries (Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland).
