Thunder stun Hilltops in PFC final in Saskatoon

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The Saskatoon Hilltops had been getting the better of the Regina Thunder recently, until it really mattered, at the Prairie Conference final in Saskatoon on Sunday.

The Thunder stunned the previously undefeated Hilltops, downing them 24-19 in the Canadian Junior Football League’s PFC championship at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. The defending Canadian Bowl champion Hilltops had defeated the Thunder in each of their previous five meetings, including twice this year and in last season’s PFC final.

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“It feels fantastic,” said Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay. “It wasn’t an easy season. I think the turning point was the last time we played against the Hilltops. We had to come back and take a look at what our assets are on our team, to make sure we tried to use them a little bit more and get the ball in the boys hands and let them do the job.”

Regina used a run-heavy offence to control the game, racking up 321 yards rushing, including 178 yards and two touchdowns from Sadik Sadik and another 118 yards on the ground from Ryland Leichert. Regina never trailed, scoring a major on the opening drive of the game on a 10 yard pass to Zak Woidyla, from Ethan Hugg.

“That set the tone huge,” Sadik said. “That was a big part of how the end of the game went. All week we’ve been talking about coming out and getting the first hit, coming out and making them adjust to our game at the end of the day, and that’s what we did. And the results show it.”

Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant was complimentary of the crew that upset his favoured squad.

“We didn’t play well enough to win it,” Sargeant said. “At the end of the day, full credit to Regina Thunder. They battled, they competed for 60 minutes.

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“I’m proud of my kids. At the end of the first half they took it to us but we responded and regrouped. We just didn’t make the right plays at the right time. It just wasn’t enough. We kept fighting and scratching and clawing to the end, but it wasn’t good enough today. Full credit to Regina. Well done.”

The Thunder held a 10-3 lead at halftime, but it could have been much more as they dominated the first half with 212 yards of total offence and 18:03 time of possession. Saskatoon had just 102 yards of offence in the first half and 11:57 time of possession.

Regina started the second half the way they did the first, scoring a major on their opening possession. They extended that drive after perfectly executing a fake punt on third down at the Hilltops 45. Mitchell Tanchak caught the Toppers off guard for a 25 yard run on the play. Four plays later, running back Leichert took the snap and handed off to Sadik, running around the left end, for his first major of the game.

Trailing 17-3, Saskatoon finally got their offence going later in the third quarter, driving the ball from their 20 to the Regina one-yard line. But the Thunder stopped the Hilltops on a third and one gamble.

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After the Thunder surrendered a safety, the Hilltops needed only three plays to finally get their first touchdown, scoring on a 14 yard run by Corbin Ebben. The Hilltops trailed 17-12 entering the fourth quarter. But Regina capitalized at the start of the fourth when the Hilltops fumbled a punt return at their own 12 yard line. Sadik scored on a two-yard run to make it 24-12 after the convert. With 4:20 to play, the Hilltops got to within 24-19 on a 14-yard pass to Ebben.

The Hilltops had two possessions late in the game while down by one score, but turned it over on downs with 1:16 to play. After holding Regina to a two-and-out they took the ball on their own 15 yard line, still with 1:01 left. They drove to the Regina 22, but a last-play pass to the end zone fell incomplete as the Thunder stormed the field in celebration.

Hugg finished seven-for-nine passing for 53 yards for the Thunder. Hilltops’ quarterback Trey Reider was 21 for 38 for 291 yards, including seven passes to Drake Douglas for 121 yards. Reider and Douglas were amongst seven others playing their last game for the Hilltops as fifth-year players.

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Shawn Green had one field goal for the Thunder, but missed on three other attempts. He converted all three touchdowns. Teijon Abel-Douglas had a field goal for the Hilltops, but hit the post on another attempt, while adding two converts.

The PFC-champion Thunder will host the CJFL national semifinal next Sunday against the British Columbia-champion Okanagan Sun, who defeated the Westshore Rebels 23-17 on Saturday in Kelowna. The Thunder lost 21-19 to the Sun in the 2022 Canadian Bowl.

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