Leon Cenerini, a second-year linebacker for the Carleton Ravens football team, was one of 11 finalists chosen to be in the Ontario University Athletics (OUA) 2014 Football Record Book and Media Guide Cover Contest, but ultimately came up short of being on the cover.
The voting process ran from Aug. 5-8, with the winner, Laurier Golden Hawks running back Dillon Campbell, announced Aug. 18 when training camps opened.
The contest mimics the popular EA Sports NHL 15 cover vote, as football fans could choose their favourite player by voting in the poll on the OUA website, liking the players’ photo on Facebook or Instagram, or creating a post on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag “#OUA14” followed by the player’s last name.
As a result, Cenerini’s voting hashtag was “#OUA14Cenerini.”
Although Cenerini did not make the final four in voting, he said it was cool to be chosen for such a contest.
“I definitely owe a huge thanks to everyone who supported me in that cover vote, especially my teammates. There’s a lot of them who campaigned pretty hard for me,” he said. “There were some things on Twitter that I saw that were pretty funny, inside jokes. Not only did it get me a good laugh, it was also really good to see the support from everyone.”
Cenerini’s play caught the attention of people in OUA and Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) circles, as the linebacker led the entire CIS in tackles with 69 in 2013, which gave him an average of 8.6 tackles per game.
Ravens football coach Steve Sumarah said Cenerini’s strong work ethic and passion for the game separates him from other players in Canada.
“He is full on 100 per cent football all the time,” Sumarah said. “He’s just an impressive guy like that. He’s so focused and so driven to succeed.”
Sumarah said he’s looking forward to watching Cenerini grow over the course of his university career.
“I think as the years go on, his leadership is just going to continue to go up and up,” Sumarah said. “Not only is he a great player and leader by example, but you can start to see him becoming more of a vocal leader as well.”
Sumarah revealed that even he voted for Cenerini on Twitter.
Reflecting on the experience, Cenerini said he was not disheartened when he heard the news he won’t be on the cover this season.
“I figured I had a little bit of a shot at winning, but I was just a first-year last year, so I wasn’t too disappointed when I didn’t win,” he said. “It was just a nice thing to see everybody supporting me and I really appreciate everybody who campaigned for me and voted for me.”
Related articles
Ravens football team shows signs of improvement in loss
