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| Trey Reider has quarterbacked the Hilltops to a 10-0 mark in 2023. |
During the 2023 CJFL season, Reider has given the Hilltops consistent play at quarterback. With that consistent play, the Hilltops have posted a 10-0 record and captured the Prairie Football Conference championship.
The Hilltops close out their home schedule on Sunday, when they host the Ontario Football Conference champion St. Clair Saints (10-0), who are based out of Windsor, in a CJFL semifinal contest at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
The winner advances to the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl – which will be played on November 11 against the British Columbia Football Conference champion Westshore Rebels (12-0) in Victoria, B.C. The start time to the game is still to be announced.
During the Hilltops eight regular season games, Reider has completed 108-of-167 passes for 1,571 yards and 16 touchdowns, while throwing five interceptions during the regular season. He topped the PFC with a 114.6 quarterback efficiency rating, was named a PFC all-star and took honours as the PFC’s Most Outstanding Quarterback.
Thanks to the fact the Hilltops have a strong running game behind star power running back in PFC MVP Boston Davidsen and the Hilltops defence has given up just 66 points in the club’s 10 outings, Reider hasn’t had to go out and gun the football all over the field like Warren Moon.
The 21-year-old signal caller has done his job in making good decisions and being efficient in the passing game in order to compliment the Hilltops running game, defence and the squad’s special teams unit, which has had a good campaign too.
After returning to action after the 2020 CJFL campaign was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world, the Hilltops didn’t get consistent enough play from the quarterback position in 2021 and 2022. The quarterbacks had some great games in those campaigns, but they also had outings where things stalled out.
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| Trey Reider has been efficient at QB for the Hilltops. |
The Hilltops finished 6-2 in the regular season and finished with an 8-3 record overall after falling in a CJFL semifinal to the Rams in Langley, B.C., 17-14 after turning the ball over 12 times.
In 2022, Dutton began the campaign as the Hilltops starting quarterback, but after he struggled for a stretch, Reider was inserted at the starting spot for the last three regular season games and both of the club’s post-season contests. The Hilltops made it to the PFC final falling to the Thunder in Regina 39-21.
The Hilltops posted a 5-3 record in the regular season due to a three-game skid and went 6-4 overall. That 6-4 overall mark was the worst record the Hilltops had posted since going 6-4 overall in 1993.
Fleming departed from the Hilltops following the 2021 campaign, and Dutton exhausted his CJFL eligibility with the completion of the 2022 season.
Saskatoon was good but not good enough in 2021 and 2022.
Reider is showing was the storied CJFL club can do with consistent play at quarterback. When the Hilltops won nine CJFL titles in a 10-year period from 2010 to 2019, they never had questions at the quarterback spot.
When the Hilltops won three straight CJFL titles from 2010 to 2012, the late Chase Bradshaw played quarterback with great athleticism and humbleness in the 2010 and 2011 title wins, and Matt Karpinka held down the controls under centre for the 2012 championship win.
In the Hilltops run of winning six straight CJFL titles from 2014 to 2019, Jared Andreychuk quarterbacked the Hilltops in expert fashion to championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Jordan Walls was the master at the controls in the title wins in 2017 and an 11-0 perfect season 2018.
Tyler Hermann had the opportunity to call signals as the starting quarterback for one season as a fifth-year senior in 2019, and he put together a memorable campaign that saw the Hilltops go 12-0 in winning the CJFL championship.
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| Trey Reider (#3) is pictured with the PFC championship trophy. |
In 2023, Reider has given the Hilltops their best play at the quarterback spot since the 10-year run from 2010 to 2019. As a result, the Hilltops record in 2023 has been better than it was in 2021 and 2022.
With Reider at the controls, you have to like the Hilltops chances at potentially getting two more wins to capture a 23rd CJFL title in the team’s history that dates back to 1947.
Hilltops first CJFL title
came against Saints club in 1953
On
Sunday at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the PFC champion Hilltops
host the OFC champion Saints, who are based out of Windsor, in a CJFL semifinal
final. The Saints first trip to Saskatoon came way back in 1953, when they were
known as the Windsor AKO Fratmen.
Back
in 1953, the modern day current version of the Hilltops were in their seventh
year of existence, and they were playing host to the AKO Fratmen in the CJFL
title game. The AKO Fratmen entered the contest as defending CJFL champions
having defeated the visiting Edmonton Wildcats 15-12 in Windsor in the previous
year’s national final.
The
Hilltops made it to the CJFL championship game in their second year of existence,
but they dropped a 23-10 decision to the Wildcats in Hamilton.
Excitement
was high for the 1953 title game in Saskatoon, and the first 4,300 tickets for
the contest at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus sold
out quickly. Another 2,900 tickets were sold for the game bringing the
attendance to 7,200, which was a record at the time for a CJFL title game
played on the Prairies. The large gathering circled the field at Griffiths
Stadium.
Hilltops
quarterback Ron Adam hooked up with Bill Trout on a sleeper play for the game’s
first touchdown and the hosts never looked back. The Hilltops stormed to a 34-6
victory on a -1 C day to capture the then league championship trophy the
Leader-Post Trophy, which was also known as “the Little Grey Cup,” as CJFL
champions.
For historical references, touchdowns in 1953 were worth
five points instead of six points before teams tried to tack on a one or
two-point conversion.
In
the 1953 CJFL title game, Adam’s arm was golden in that contest as he completed
12-of-20 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. At the time, football was
way more geared to the run, and it was common for the offensive line to contain
seven players. It was very rare for quarterbacks at that time to eclipse 300
yards in passing in those days as Adam did.
Adam
also ran home a major score from 13 yards out.
At
that time, the CJFL drew big crowds as the main feeder for the CFL. Following
the 1953 CJFL title game, Adam, who passed away in 2014, went on to play seven
seasons with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders mainly as a defensive back.
At
the Canadian university level, the first Vanier Cup to declare a national
champion wasn’t played until 1965.
The
Hilltops and AKO Fratmen met in a CJFL title game in 1996 in a neutral site
clash in Oshawa, Ont. Saskatoon romped to a 39-7 victory. The two sides
collided in the 2017 CJFL title game in Windsor, which the Hilltops claimed
56-11.
The
Saints/AKO Fratmen franchise last won the CJFL championship in 1999, when they
defeated the visiting Kelowna, B.C., based Okanagan Sun 32-29 in Windsor.
The
St. Clair College Student Athletic Association bought the Fratmen in February
of 2020. The club played as the St. Clair Fratmen in 2021 and took on the St.
Clair Saints name before the start of the 2022 campaign.
Rebels knock off Sun for
BCFC title, other notes
On Saturday at that venue, the host Westshore Rebels downed the defending CJFL champion Okanagan Sun 33-19 to capture the Cullen Cup as British Columbia Football Conference champions. With the win, the Rebels, who improved to 12-0 overall, advance to host the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl – on November 11 at Starlight Stadium.
The Rebels will play the winner of the CJFL semifinal between the PFC champion Saskatoon Hilltops and OFC champion St. Clair Saints. The CJFL semifinal between the Hilltops and the visiting Saints is set for Sunday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field at 1 p.m. Both squads enter that contest with 10-0 overall records.
In Saturday’s BCFC title clash between the Rebels and the Sun, the Sun took a 12-4 lead into halftime. The Rebels proceeded to score 29 unanswered points in the third quarter to hold a comfortable 33-12 advantage. The Sun answered back with a touchdown in the fourth quarter to round out the 33-19 final in favour of the Rebels.
The Kelowna based Sun concluded the 2023 campaign with a 9-2 overall record.
- Rob Vanstone, who is the senior journalist and team historian of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, wrote a great piece on the Saskatoon Hilltops PFC championship win. That piece can be found by clicking right here.
- The Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears won the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate’s 5A Football City Final with a 41-14 victory over the Bishop James Mahoney High School Saints on Friday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
- The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team concluded their U Sports regular season with a 43-11 victory over the University of Regina Rams on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The Huskies finished third in the Canada West Conference with a 5-3 record, while the Rams were last in the six-team Canada West with a 1-7 mark. Attendance for Saturday’s game between the Huskies and Rams at Mosaic Stadium was 1,599.
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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