Herd RB Coombs runs wild at International Bowl III

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Tyler Coulter

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Anthony Coombs

UNIVERSITY of Manitoba Bisons running back Anthony Coombs was named the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) World Team MVP on Wednesday at USA Football's third annual International Bowl in Austin, Texas.

Coombs, 19, scored two touchdowns and rushed for 147 yards on 14 carries for Team World which defeated Team USA 35-29.

Bisons defensive lineman Evan Gill, 19, also participated in the game. Gill recorded a sack for a loss of 10 yards, had a fumble recovery and was the World Team's top tackler with three tackles.

Team USA was the country's under-19 national team.

Coombs, a Sturgeon Heights graduate who played his rookie university football season with the Bisons in 2011, rushed for touchdowns of 19 yards and 62 yards.

It was the first loss for Team USA in an international competition at the senior or junior level including the 2007 and 2011 IFAF Senior World championships, the 2009 U-19 IFAF World Championship and two previous International Bowls.

The IFAF World Team roster included players from Canada and eight other IFAF member federations including American Samoa, Australia, Austria, Canada, France, Japan, Mexico, Spain and Sweden.

WIT returns for 37th edition

One of the oldest high school basketball tournaments is returning for a 37th year as the annual Winnipeg Invitational Tournament (WIT) will be held on Feb. 8-11 at Tec Voc High School.

The varsity boys teams competing include four teams ranked in the provincial AAAA top 10 -- the defending champion and No. 7 St. Paul's Crusaders, No. 3 Sturgeon Heights Huskies, No. 6 Garden City Fighting Gophers and No. 9 Kildonan East Reivers along with Winnipeg's Sisler Spartans, Daniel McIntyre Maroons, the host Tec Voc Hornets, Thunder Bay teams Sir Winston Churchill Trojans and St. Ignatius Falcons and the Peterborough Raiders.

Garden City and Daniel Mac will tip off the action at 3 p.m. on Feb. 8. The final will be played on Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. The action can be followed at www.tecvoc.ca

AAA Midgets make marks

Tyler Coulter of the Brandon Wheat Kings, Danys Chartrand of the Winnipeg Wild and goaltender Derek Davies of the Interlake Lightning have been named the Manitoba AAA Midget Hockey League's players of the month for January.

Coulter was chosen as the WHL offensive player of the month after the rookie forward recorded six goals and six assists in eight games. He is the Wheat Kings' scoring leader with 23 goals and 18 assists for 41 points.

Chartrand was selected as the Meyers Norris Penny defensive player of the month after the second-year defenceman posted a plus-52 rating while helping lead the Wild to an 8-1 record.

Davies, a 15-year-old netminder, was picked as the Century 21 goaltender of the month after posting a 4-1 record, including a pair of overtime wins, in seven appearances for the Lightning.

-- Ashley Prest

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 3, 2012 C6