An amazing one-handed, goal line interception by Langley Secondary School (LSS) linebacker Jackson Poitras has earned national recognition.
His full extension, one-handed catch to deny a touchdown was selected as the Week 5 NFL Canada Way to Play Award winner.
With it, a $3,000 equipment grant went to his school.
Weeks later, Poitras, 17, still sounded a little surprised.
“I kind of get the ball and I hit the ground and I almost paused for a second” Poitras told the Langley Advance Times.
“It’s pretty pretty cool. I couldn’t even believe it.”
Poitras made the jaw-dropping catch during a September 27 BC Secondary School Football Association AAA Varsity game that pitted the LSS Thunderbirds against East Vancouver’s Notre Dame Secondary jugglers.
Langley linebacker makes spectacular catch, his school gets grant as a result. pic.twitter.com/yLN3F651AO
— Langley Advance Times (@LangleyTimes) November 4, 2025
Thunderbirds head coach Joe MacLeod, who nominated Poitras, called it a “heck of a football play.”
Poitras was protecting the end zone against a Juggler quarterback who had already made some big passing plays.
“The quarterback threw a really nice ball down there, but Jackson managed to kind of elevate up, get his hand in there,” MacLeod described.
“It would have been a nice enough play just as a pass breakup, but [he also] gets a really nice run back out of it to put us in decent field position.”
Poitras, who was selected as a conference all-star for AAA East, said football changed his life.
He’d dropped out of sports, was hanging out with “rough friends” and then his father died, Poitras said. He was in Grade 8.
“I was watching the Langley high school team play,” he recalled.
“I was like, ‘Mom, let me play football. I really want to play football.’ I have something to focus on now. I have something work towards and something to look forward to.
Hi goals include attending university for football and a kinesiology degree and ultimately, “the plan is CFL.”
Without giving details, Poitras confirmed he has received some welcome attention from universities since the award.
Administered by Football Canada, the Way to Play award aims to invest in Canadian high school and CEGEP tackle football programs while reinforcing good playing technique.
Players or their supporters are asked to submit videos of plays demonstrating things like proper tackling, blocking, footwork, discipline or vision.
MacLeod said the grant will be used for helmets.
“We just launched a junior varsity program this year, and that lets us to complement our senior team that Jackson’s on,” the coach said.
“And what that entails is a lot of purchasing for us to try to make sure that we have appropriate helmets for that number of kids, because we’ve doubled the size of our program.”