It must have been fate when the Stampeders declared the June 21 matchup against the Ottawa Redblacks as the club’s annual Family Day game.
The Saturday matinee sets the stage for Calgary defensive back Godfrey Onyeka to battle it out against his brother Kene, a defensive lineman for the club from the Nation’s Capital.
“It’s really cool,” Godfrey, the older Onyeka, admitted. “I’ve been playing against him for six years now, played against him twice in college. It’s always cool seeing him before the game. It’s my little brother out there, so it’s cool.”
You wouldn’t know it based off their collegiate success and the length of their careers but the Onyekas’ path to playing professional football didn’t begin until they were teenagers.
“We all started kind of late,” Onyeka explained. “We lived in Nigeria and then we moved to Canada when I was 11 and he was 9. He started playing football when he was 14 or 15 in Grade 10 and I didn’t start until I was 18 or 19.
“He started and got really good. My cousins (Kosi and Nakas Onyeka, who’ve both had stints in the CFL) got really good. I always knew I could play but I just never did until my last year of high school.”
It didn’t take long for him to catch on.
After graduating from St. Edmund Campion Secondary School in Brampton, Ont., Onyeka played four seasons at Wilfrid Laurier and was part of the Golden Hawks’ Ontario championship team in 2016.
Onyeka recorded 186 career tackles including 6.5 for loss, 10 interceptions including a pick-six, six forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries, two sacks and a blocked kick.
Check out G.Onyeka’s play of the game that lead @LaurierFootball to yesterday’s home opener victory! #WeAreHAWKS pic.twitter.com/4DyRf98sfr
— Laurier Golden Hawks (@WLUAthletics) August 29, 2016
He was drafted by Edmonton in the second-round 10th overall in the 2018 CFL Draft, while his brother Kene was drafted a couple rounds later at 29th overall in the fourth round by the Redblacks.
Since draft day, the brothers have had different journeys.
After two years with the Double E, Godfrey moved one province eastward and spent the last four seasons of his career with the Saskatchewan Roughriders before eventually signing in Calgary this off-season.
Meanwhile, Kene has spent his entire CFL tenure in Ottawa.
FUMBLE!!!!!!@REDBLACKS tie it up 🤯#CFLGameday | @oktire #LDWeekend | @ColesWorld43 pic.twitter.com/03OAdvA0cA
— CFL (@CFL) September 3, 2022
Although they’ve gone head-to-head on multiple occasions, Saturday will mark the first time Godfrey will be facing his younger brother as a member of the Red and White, and he already knows his parents will be mixing their red-coloured gear with a darker shade.
“My parents are straight Ottawa fans,” he informed. “He’s the favourite son. My Dad already made his choice.”
Despite the parental allegiances, Godfrey wishes his brother well in the Week 3 contest.
“I hope my brother has a great game, but the plan is to do our job and beat Ottawa,” he said, “I want to beat Ottawa. Then I’ll see him after the game.”
On the topic of brotherly love in the CFL, Onyeka took a moment to highlight another pair of Canadian brothers who are currently taking the league by storm.
“Can I shout out something real quick?”, he asked, “The Philpot twins. It would be cool too if we were playing his brother this week, but either way having two absolute studs in the same family is so amazing. That makes me happy to see.”
