It was a perfect week for a Maple Creek high school football player recently.

Offensive lineman Ben Rutherdale played in the 37th edition of the Sask Senior Bowl in Saskatoon at Griffiths Stadium on May 28.

He was the lone player on Team South's roster from southwestern Saskatchewan.

"It was great, it was a lot of fun," he said. "It was well organized and they took great care of us while we were up there."

The grade 12 student at Maple Creek Composite School relished the tougher competition even with his team falling 47-7.

"It was a really great challenge that I got to push a lot harder than sometimes I'm able to but I actually felt I fit in pretty well," he said.

"A lot of guys were my size or bigger."

Four days later the Regina Thunder of the Canadian Junior Football League announced the six-foot-three Maple Creek product will be suiting up for them come the fall.

"I'm extremely excited for that," he said.

Rutherdale began playing football in grade seven and made the senior team in grade nine. As a senior, he also won his team's MVP award this past year.

"I've always loved to watch football," he said. "I love the contact and the team spirit, I've always wanted to play it."