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A Weyburn youth was named an all-star in three different categories at the Regina Intercollegiate Football League (RIFL) awards banquet held on Nov. 18 in Regina. Thomas Bresciani, 17, was named a Stewart Conference all-star receiver, safety and punter for the past season.

Winning the all-star awards "was a good achievement in my football career," Bresciani commented. "It tells me where I'm located in our league this season."

In addition to winning the three all-star awards, Bresciani was also the only player from the Comp Eagles football team to receive awards this season.

"It was nice to see that I was able to represent our team," Bresciani said. "Football is a team sport and I needed the other guys around me in order to achieve that."

The coaching staff from each individual team in the conference were able to nominate their players for the all-star ballot. From there, the coaches from every team voted for who they believed deserved each award. To ensure the voting was fair, the coaches were unable to vote for their own players.

"All of the other coaches believing that Thomas was the best player in those three positions was quite the honour," Darren Abel, head coach of the Eagles football team commented.

"I think that Thomas was by far the best player this season. He was our best receiver for the Eagles," Abel said. "Unfortunately, after our first game when our quarterback was hurt, Thomas was thrown into the quarterback position as well. He took on that important position for much of the season."

"He was a key both offensively and defensively to our team," said Abel. "He was one of the best in our conference and I was hoping the other coaches would recognize that and they did, so I was happy to see that. His all-star award as punter didn't come as a big surprise either. The last few games of the season, he was just booming the football. Even against the wind, he was getting nice kicks and I'm not surprised that the other coaches took notice of that."

This was Bresciani's seventh year playing football and the all-star awards were his first time receiving recognition for his playing abilities from a football league.

Bresciani also plays on the Comp's basketball team, but says that football is his number one sport.

The Stewart Conference of the RIFL includes eight football teams from different high schools in the province, five of which are in Regina. The others include Notre Dame, Yorkton and Weyburn.