Sports

Bedlion, Bickford selected to play in summer high school football showcases

By Matthew Semisch

05/06/2014

Of Bottineau High School’s six seniors on last year’s football team, two are set to go on to play the sport in college, too.

Before they hit the collegiate gridirons, though, Cody Bedlion and Tanner Bickford will both get one final taste of the high school game this summer.

Both have been named to play in all-star games involving high school football seniors from around the state.

On July 1, Bickford will take part in the first of the two summer games involving BHS players.

Bickford will be part of an all-star team of seniors from around North Dakota set to face counterparts from Saskatchewan in the 2014 edition of the Saskota Bowl, an annual summer showcase featuring some of the best amateur players from the two areas.

The Saskota Bowl, which takes place this year in Indian Head, Saskatchewan, is a nine-man game. Bottineau High plays 11-man football.

Bedlion, the son of Braves football head coach Rob Bedlion, will play in the North Dakota Shrine Bowl. That game will take place in Fargo  on July 13 at the Fargodome.

The Fargodome is home to the North Dakota State University football team. The Bison have won each of the last three NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision national titles.

The Shrine Bowl is a national institution, with high school football players from states all over the country taking part in their own editions each year.

The first Shrine Bowl took place in North Carolina in 1937, thus making it the oldest high school football all-star game in the United States.

The games serve as benefits for the 22 Shriners Hospitals for Children across the nation.

Bedlion, an offensive and defensive lineman for the Braves, will play next season at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minn.

Bickford, an offensive lineman and linebacker on defense for BHS, is set to play his college ball at Mayville State in Mayville.

Rob Bedlion said he’s excited to see his two top seniors from this year’s graduating class rewarded for their hard work on the gridiron as Braves.

“We felt pretty good to have those two kids that are going to play in college in the fall get into these two games,” Bedlion said.

“It’ll be fun for them to be recognized and play a little more football before they go to college and start playing in some tougher spots in the college game.”