SAN ANTONIO, Tex. — The Saskatchewan Selects are in the heart of football country this week as they prepare to hit the field this weekend for the 2018 Alamo City Pigskin Classic.

The Selects have 170 players from Estevan and across Saskatchewan down in San Antonio, Tex. for the sixth annual edition of the tournament that pits teams from Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Texas, California, Virginia and Mexico against each other.

“To me, it’s an honour to be down in Texas to play football at this kind of intensity level,” said Estevan’s Chayton Fornwald with the Selects’ 12-and-under team.

“Playing with American rules, it’s a whole new level and you have to adapt quickly to the changes in the rules.”

There’s six players in total from Estevan hitting the field for the tournament, spread across three age divisions. The 12-and-under team has the most with Fornwald being joined by Hayden Borhart and Lucas Rooks.

The Estevan contingent is looking forward to showing what they can do against the best that Texas has to offer in their age group.

“It’s going to be way more competitive and they’re going to try to hit us super hard, it’s going to be way harder than in Estevan football,” said Borhart.

“We’re totally ready to just crush some kids.”

The Saskatchewan Selects program is now in its sixth season of operation, it gives kids from around the province the opportunity to essentially play football year round.

Over the course of the three months worth of practice, they learn proper tackling, as well as go more in depth into playbooks and skill development.

“I’ve learned a lot and that you have to be aware of what’s going on the field,” said Fornwald.

“This tournament is going to be fun, we had a lot of fun last year doing this and it’s going to be same this year.”

The 12-and-under team will play their first game on Saturday morning at 8 a.m. against the San Antonio True Blue at St. Anthony’s High School.

The 14-and-under team’s opening game is against the South Texas Extreme at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Gayle and Tom Benson Stadium. That will be followed by the 16-and-under team facing the Monterrey Bay All-Stars at 5 p.m.