A former Bellerose Bulldog is now the top Dawg for the high school’s powerhouse junior football program.
Brayden Guy was recruited to succeed his former junior coach, Chad Hill, the architect of three consecutive undefeated metro Edmonton division one championship teams.
“It’s an awesome opportunity for me because it’s my old high school. I’m really excited about it,” said Guy.
The St. Albert minor football product played for the 2005 Bulldogs in the rebirth of the junior program at Bellerose and in Hill’s first season at the controls the team lost the premier conference final to the St. Albert High Skyhawks.
In Grade 12 Guy huddled up with the 2007 Miles champion senior Bulldogs, the first football team to win a metro Edmonton banner at the high school since the Bellerose-based St. Albert Storm. The standout linebacker was honoured as the team’s most outstanding defensive player and was the recipient of the Lee Grant Memorial Award for fair play, sportsmanship, leadership and community involvement.
After graduation Guy helped coach the defence on the juniors under Hill’s tutelage before resuming his playing career with the Acadia Axemen in Nova Scotia.
“I played for Chad back in the day so it’s kind of funny how all these things work out,” Guy said. “There is a tradition that has been built in the (junior and senior) programs at Bellerose and it’s awesome to see just how successful they’ve been of late.”
Hill said the juniors are in good shape with Guy steering the ship.
“I’m excited for Brayden. I enjoyed my brief time coaching him,” Hill said. “I know Brayden will do a fine job. He was a smart player and had an excellent CIS career at Acadia University. He is the son of a coach and not just any coach. I learned more about defence from the late Don Guy than any other coach. Much of our defensive schemes we use today at Bellerose have their roots in Don Guy’s defensive system.”
Hill did double duty as head coach of the junior and senior Bulldogs since 2008 before opting to concentrate on the senior squad this year. His last game coaching the juniors was the 56-0 rout of the Jasper Place Rebels in the 2014 division one final. It was the 23rd consecutive victory for the juniors in league and playoffs combined since losing the 2011 semifinal to the Bev Facey Falcons.
Guy, 24, has big shoes to fill as Hill’s replacement.
“Obviously there is always a little bit of pressure starting off because there are expectations but with these kids they’re the ones that go out and run and tackle and cover and kick the ball and pass the ball so coaching-wise we’re just specifically trying to crack their highest potential and make sure that they’re playing at the highest level that they can. Pressure wise I don’t really see that as being something that affects how I coach these kids. I’m just going to try and do the best I can and make sure that they’re playing the absolute best they can,” said the Grade 6 language arts, social studies and physical education teacher at Elmer S. Gish School.
The ultimate goal is to mould the players into productive individuals in their pursuit of academic and athletic post-secondary aspirations and Guy believes he is a better person today because of football with the Bulldogs and Axemen.
“It definitely pushed my mentality and motivation to improve,” said the member of the 2004 Football Alberta Tier 2 bantam provincial champion St. Albert 49ers.
“The five years that I played in Acadia were awesome. I have no regrets going out there for school and moving to a new place because it kind of forces you to grow up pretty fast,” added Guy, an outside linebacker with Acadia. “It was fantastic playing for coach (Jeff) Cummins and just meeting people that you would’ve never originally met and making new friends out there. We were actually quite successful too. We won (Atlantic) conference championships in 2011 and 2012 and then unfortunately we played in the Uteck Bowls and lost to McMaster and Laval but it was still an awesome experience.”
