“Tabor has given me more than what I expected.”

Cohen Strickland left Sudbury for Massachusetts, two summers ago, on hope and a dream.

A year and a half into his tenure at Tabor Academy, the local football standout is hoping that his dreams ultimately may be fulfilled with a chance to play the sport that he loves at the next level.

And based on what he has seen over the past two years, Strickland is adamant that he is in the place to make it happen.

“The connections that our coach (Jeff Moore) has are incredible,” he noted.

When teammates that you share the locker room with are signing on with the likes of Michigan, UCLA and the University of South Florida, there is reason to believe the improbable is possible.

To that end, the 6’3 1/2” defensive lineman / linebacker knows that for as much as he has witnessed a great deal of growth at so many levels since his arrival in New England back in September of 2024, there is still so much more work to be done.

“When we talked in August of 2024, one of my goals was to get bigger, stronger, faster – and I think I have done all of that,” said the grade 17 year-old grade 10 student (Canadians heading south of the border often drop one year back in their studies in order to better fit the American student-athlete template) who now tips the scales at 220 pounds or so.

“When I first got there and saw the seniors, I knew that there was a lot more to do versus what I was doing here.”

The ultra-successful Tabor Academy Seawolves program runs with varsity and junior varsity teams, though the breakdown is not solely by age or grade.

“Their junior varsity team is effectively all of the second and third stringers; your grade doesn’t matter,” Strickland explained.

A clear back-up with the varsity team in 2024-2025, Strickland and coaches opted to pencil the graduate of the Joe MacDonald Youth Football League into the JV lineup, allowing him to garner a “decent amount of reps in my freshman year”, in his own words.

In this kind of a setting, one has to bide their time.

A member of Team Ontario (U16) in 2024, Strickland did not start the first four games of the most recent fall season at Tabor. “I finally got a chance to play in the fifth game versus Trinity-Pawling – and did really well. I basically did not get off the field after that, a whole lot, other than with a little rotation (on the line).”

To his credit, his “stick-to-itiveness” eventually paid dividends.

“At practices, we would do the offensive scout (practice opposite the Tabor offense) and throughout the whole year, I never came off the field,” said Strickland. “I was on the scout team just to get those extra mental reps – and the coaches noticed that.”

Though the door had now opened, so too had the realization of just how imposing the challenge that still lies ahead would be. “I definitely still need more strength and technique.”

In his third start, Strickland lined up opposite four-star Michigan commit Marky Walbridge, an offensive lineman with St Sebastien’s School. “I probably got pancaked three to four times,” he acknowledged. “I need to do more; I always need to do more.”

“I cannot be going backwards if the rest of our (defensive) line is going forward.”

Thankfully, Strickland still has two+ years remaining at Tabor to fine-tune his abilities, to become a better player and a better athlete. He sees both aspects as being equally important, recognizing the attention to detail that exists in a setting that features no less than a dozen different coaches on their team website.

“Like when the tackle blocks down, I have to go underneath the tight end,” Strickland outlined. “If I go outside the tight end, there is a huge gap. I have to know what I am doing, what I am looking for, what gap I am responsible for.”

But if all of this comes together in the next few years, then Tabor Academy could be the place where dreams might come true.

“There’s a chance – and I honestly never thought this was possible.”