By: Justin Boone
In his freshman year of high school, a tall but much thinner version of Tiger-Cats offensive lineman Marko Cavka stepped on the football field for the first time.
Growing up in Cypress, California, a part of the famed Orange County, Marko grew up watching plenty of football with his Croatian family, but not the Canadian variety.
“I didn’t watch the CFL or the NFL when I was young. As a kid, soccer was my thing,” Marko said.
“I went out for football my freshman year of high school and lasted one day before I quit. I didn’t think it was for me. I just didn’t understand it. Then we had a coaching change in my sophomore season and a new set of coaches asked me to come out and this is what came of it,” he explained, referring to his professional career, which has led him to the offensive line in Hamilton.
That career was kick started when Marko left his close-knit community of Cyprus, and headed eight-hours north to Sacramento State, where he started 42 consecutive games at right tackle and had the opportunity to play along side his brother, Zvonimir, on the offensive line. There he helped current Winnipeg Blue Bombers running back Charles Roberts become the all-time leading rusher in Division 1-AA history.
Now he’s opening holes for Jesse Lumsden, as the pair have become linked in the offence due to the import ratio. When Jesse heads to the sidelines, Marko follows, with Tre Smith and Peter Dyakowski filling their spots.
In Marko’s first start at guard, a position he was not accustom to lining up at, Jesse had his best game of the year, 189 yards effort. With Marko joining the O-line, Jesse is averaging 120.7 rushing yards per game, which puts him on pace to finish the season with 2,052 yards, leaving him just shy of Mike Pringle’s season rushing record (2,065 yards in 1998).
