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| The Hilltops raise the PFC championship trophy once again. |
With the Hilltops having built an 18-0 first quarter lead on
the Edmonton Huskies in the Prairie Football Conference final on Sunday
afternoon at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, Saskatoon’s defensive unit ensured
Edmonton’s offence never got on track.
The Hilltops limited the Huskies to just 78 yards rushing and
165 yards passing in winning the PFC final 28-9 before 863 spectators. Sunday’s victory marked the
fifth straight year the Hilltops have captured the PFC title.
Of course after
the previous four PFC championship victories, the Hilltops moved on to capture
the Canadian Bowl.
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| DTs Garth Knittig, left, and Jesse McNabb, nail a Huskies QB. |
With Sunday’s win in the books, the Hilltops will host the CJFL title game on November 17 at
SMF Field at a time to be announced.
“It feels amazing,”
said Hilltops star defensive tackle Jesse McNabb, who had five defensive
tackles in the win. “We have a good group of guys around us.
“We have a good
group of fifth years. We all just did our job today. Offence struggled a little
bit, but our defence picked it up when we needed it to.”
The Huskies defence
was stout against the Hilltops passing game.
Saskatoon’s star
quarterback Jordan Walls completed 11-of-25 passes for 145 yards, no touchdowns
and two interceptions. Earlier in the day, Walls was named the most outstanding
quarterback, the most outstanding offensive player of the year and the most
valuable player of the PFC.
Hilltops star
receiver Jason Price was held to one catch for eight yards. Price was named the
most outstanding receiver for the PFC earlier in the day.
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| Hilltops DB Colton Holmes (#9) drills a Huskies receiver. |
The Hilltops ground
game was firing on all cylinders. Star running back Josh Ewanchyna, who was
named the PFC’s most outstanding offensive back earlier in the day, ran the
ball 24 times for 163 years and three touchdowns. He also hauled in two passes
for 33 yards.
In his last three outings
against the Huskies, Ewanchyna has rushed for 100 or more yards in each of
those contests.
After Walls threw
for 473 yards in the Hilltops 58-5 romp over the Winnipeg Rifles in a PFC
semifinal contest one week earlier, Ewanchyna believed he was going to have to
step up against the Huskies.
“With Walls’
performance last week, we knew that they were going to be watching that passing
game a little closer,” said Ewanchyna. “We knew the run game was going to be there.
“It was very
physical. Our ground and pound game is what we kind of pride ourselves with. We
know, if we keep driving the ball, the game is going to be a little easier.
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| The Hilltop got great support from their faithful fans at SMF Field. |
The Hilltops’ first
quarter surge started with a David Solie field goal from 31 yards out, which
was set up by a blocked punt by defensive end Connor Delahey. Ewanchyna ran in
his first major of the game from three yards out and Solie scored a single on
the ensuing kickoff to put the Hilltops up 11-0.
Hilltops fifth-year
linebacker Adam Benkic recovered a fumble on the ensuing Edmonton series. On
the drive resulting from that fumble recovery, Ewanchyna ran his second major
of the game in from 21 yards out on the final play of the first quarter to give
the Hilltops an 18-0 lead.
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| RB Josh Ewanchyna scores three TDs for the Hilltops. |
In the second
quarter, the Huskies forced the Hilltops to concede a safety, received an
18-yard field goal from Cole Sabourin and a single from a missed field goal
from Sabourin to cut Saskatoon’s edge to 18-6.
Sabourin booted a
19-yard field goal in the third quarter to further trim the Hilltops advantage
to 18-9.
“Once we got ahead
of them, all they could do was kick field goals,” said McNabb. “We did our job.
“We knew we were
going to keep doing our job, and they would have to pull some magic out to
score on us it felt like. We just did the game plan and did our job. That is
all we need to do.”
The Huskies won
turnover battle with the Hilltops 5-3, which is something the Hilltops almost
never come out on the wrong end of.
Edmonton was without
starting quarterback Tommy Yanchuk due to injury. Sunday’s starter Brendan Guy left
the PFC final with an injury early in the fourth quarter running for a first down on a third
down gamble.
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| Huskies QB Brendan Guy faced constant pressure from the Hilltops defence. |
Before Guy was
injured, the Huskies odds at making a comeback became a lot more difficult,
when Ewanchyna ran home a major from 34 yards out near the end of the third
quarter to increase the Hilltops lead to 25-9.
After Guy left the
contest, Solie booted a 27-yard field goal with 4:45 to play in the fourth
quarter to seal the final outcome at 28-9 in favour of the Hilltops.
Benkic had four
defensive tackles and four special teams tackles to go along with his fumble
recovery for Saskatoon.
Defensive tackle
Garth Knittig, who was named the PFC’s most outstanding defensive lineman
earlier in the day, had seven defensive tackles for the Hilltops.
Linebacker
Cody Peters had five defensive tackles and forced a fumble for the host side.
Peters was named the PFC’s most outstanding linebacker and most outstanding
defensive player earlier in the day.
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| The Hilltops Cheerleading team entertains at halftime. |
Hilltops head coach
Tom Sargeant said he would have liked to have seen a little more production
from his team’s passing game, but when it comes to playoff football, the
legendary sideline boss said all that mattered was getting the job done.
“At the end of the
day, you are just here,” said Sargeant, who was named the coach of the year in
the PFC earlier in the day. “I don’t care if you win by one or win by 100.
“You have to figure
out how to win and move on. Hey, we’re going to another Canadian final. That
tells you so much about this group of coaches and this group of men.
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| The Hilltops defence corrals Huskies receiver Sam Clayton. |
With the win, the
Hilltops improve to 10-0 overall on the 2018 campaign. Including action in the
regular season and playoffs, the Hilltops have won their last 18 games in a
row. Saskatoon has won its last 15 straight post-season games in a row too.
When the Hilltops
try to win an unprecedented fifth straight CJFL title on Nov. 17, they will be
trying to complete a perfect season and keep their overall and playoff winning streaks
intact.
The Huskies finished
the 2018 campaign with a 7-3 overall record.
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| The Hilltops celebrate Josh Ewanchyna’s third quarter TD. |
In the British
Columbia Football Conference final in Kelowna, the Langley Rams thrashed the
host Okanagan Sun 39-7.
The Rams, who are
9-3 overall, host the Hurricanes, who are 10-0 overall, in a CJFL semifinal
game this coming Saturday in Langley, B.C.
While the Hilltops
will have close to three full weeks off before hosting the Canadian Bowl,
McNabb is looking forward to playing the CJFL title game at home.
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| The Hilltops DLs and DL coach Dave Fisher pose for a memorable picture. |
“That is all we can
really do is prepare for the next game whoever we play.”
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
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