The newest franchise in the CJFL, the Quine Skyhawks have announced a partnership with Loyalist College in Belleville Ontario.

The partnership will allow players of the Skyhawks a chance to continue their studies at the College while playing football.  The announcement was made in front of institution executives and Skyhawks personnel.  A statement from the College reads: ”Loyalist College is excited to be in the foundational stages of developing a partnership with the Quinte Skyhawks of the Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL).  First, we would like to extend a warm welcome on behalf of our entire community to the Skyhawks football team, we are all excited to see what you will achieve and we look forward to cheering you on to a national title!  Loyalist College prides itself on its varsity athletics program and the excellent work they do in developing student athletes to be great academic achievers.  We look forward to that same esprit de corps with the young athletes who will come to Belleville and the Greater Quinte Region to play football for the Quinte Skyhawks.”

The athletic program at Loyalist College currently features basketball, volleyball, soccer, cross-country running and rugby.

The Skyhawks join many teams across the CJFL that have begun partnerships with post-secondary intuitions encouraging their athletes to become student athletes and continue their education.

“Today the Skyhawks football organization is excited to announce our partnership with Loyalist College,” said team President Peter Gabriel. “Partnering with our local community college creates an amazing opportunity for our organization.  We feel that the growth and success of our program will be closely tied to the growth and success of bringing in student athletes from outside our community and retaining some of our local students from going elsewhere. The impact for this partnership will benefit our community, our college and our football club.  I cannot say enough how big this is for the sport of football in this area.  I have coached countless young men who wanted to keep playing but had no aspirations to leave or go off to university.  Now we have an answer!”

On Friday the Skyhawks will formally introduce the franchise’s first head coach.  The team meanwhile continues to prepare to hit the field in 2021.

Photo left to right - Warren Goldie, Jeremy Laurin (Loyalist College Senior Vice President), Ann-Marie Vaughan (Loyalist College President), Peter Gabriel (Skyhawks President)