HIGH ACHIEVERS: St. Matthew QB Jackson Plante goes long, all the way to Bishop’s University

By Martin Cleary

Like many young Canadian boys, Jackson Plante had the craving to play hockey.

He even had the name for it as his first name was similar to and his last name matched the great Montreal Canadiens’ goalie Jacques Plante.

But in the end, it didn’t work out.

“I played hockey until Grade 6, but I realized it wasn’t my sport. I wasn’t doing well at it,” Plante admitted. “I was falling behind everyone and couldn’t keep up. Everyone was getting better. But I watch it on TV.”

That left Plante without a sport. But he remembered his father Jean-Charles played football for the Carleton University Ravens and the Mount Allison University Mounties.

So, Plante exchanged his skates for cleats and followed his father’s footsteps by becoming an offensive lineman for a year. As he was playing the line and protecting the quarterback, he envisioned himself being a quarterback.

That dream became a reality the next season, when he earned the job as the North Gloucester Giants’ mosquito division team quarterback. But he had to pass one test to earn that key offensive role.

“There were several players who tried out to be the quarterback. The coach said whoever could throw the ball the farthest would be the quarterback. I threw it the farthest and became the quarterback,” he proudly said.

Six years later, that ability to throw the ball deep played an important role in determining where he would attend university in 2024-25.

Plante, an impressive quarterback and leader with the St. Matthew Catholic High School Tigers for the past two seasons, has committed to attend Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, PQ., and play for the Gaiters in the RSEQ league.

And next fall, he could play against his imposing snapper as the St. Matthew football program announced this week David Pae, who was Plante’s offensive line centre, has committed to Mount Allison. A Tigers captain and an offensive leader, Pae is six feet, two inches and 268 pounds.

Meanwhile, Hugo Djeumeni, a running back with St. Matthew in 2022, has already compiled six scholarship offers from NCAA Division 1 universities. The Grade 11 student at Tabor Academy in Marion, Massachusetts, had an outstanding and honour-filled inaugural season, which has brought university offers from Massachusetts, Boston College, Old Dominion, Connecticut, Yale and most recently Fordham.

“Coach Cherif liked my leadership and how I could throw the ball deep. They need a guy who can throw deep,” Plante enthused about joining the Gaiters.

Bishop’s football head coach Cherif Nicolas started following Plante in his final year with the Cumberland Panthers of the National Capital Amateur Football Association and his two high school seasons (Grades 11 and 12) at St. Matthew.

Plante increased his value as a university recruit in the fall of 2022, when he led the Tigers to an undefeated and double championship season, winning the National Capital Secondary School Athletic Association (8-0-1) and the National Capital Bowl (OFSAA Football Bowl Series) titles.

Looking for a repeat performance in his senior season, Plante guided St. Matthew to seven straight wins in 2023, but dropped the NCSSAA championship final 24-22 to St. Joseph Jaguars, the 2022 runners-up.

Away from the field, Plante had recruiting conversations with football coaches from the University of Ottawa, Saint Mary’s University and the Université de Montréal. But Bishop’s was always the frontrunner for him.

“He (Nicolas) had my back. That was the biggest thing for me. Bishop’s was always reaching out to me over the past three years,” said Plante, who added he wasn’t influenced by the fact his St. Matthew head coach Geoffrey Coventry went to Bishop’s, but found it “a funny coincidence.”

Plante considered chasing a football scholarship to an American university, but it lasted less than a week. In August, he attended Wyoming Seminary College Preparatory School in Kingston, Pennsylvania, but it was short-lived.

“It wasn’t the right environment. I was there four days,” he said. “I like Canadian football with the bigger field. I had a coach at St. Matthew who loved me and had my back. I valued that.”

Plante made two visits to learn about Bishop’s University, but only one was an official visit.

“It’s nothing flashy, nothing crazy. It’s a small university, but the people are so nice. My teammates treated me like a brother and that did it for me,” he explained.

As Plante prepares for the next stage of his football career, he is grateful for the quarterback coaching he has received at all levels from Wayne Jacobs, Larry Ring, Dominique Davis, Ron Raymond and The QB Movement in Montreal.

Plante will attend and watch the Bishop’s spring training camp, but he’s not eligible to participate in any drills or games.