Menghestab earned status as Hilltops favourite

Saskatoon crushes Colts in Calgary 51-3

Nahom Menghestab reacts to getting a sack on August 24.

Nahom Menghestab is the Saskatoon Hilltops player everyone wants to hang out with.

As physical as he can play on the field from his nose tackle position on the defensive line, the 22-year-old has an easy to approach feel good vibe away from the game. He can flash a smile, and it feels like everything in the world at that point in time is as it should be.

“He is easy going,” said legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant. “He can relate to anyone.

“With just how hard and aggressive he plays on the field, he is the opposite off the field. He is just very laid back. He has just sort of got a smile on his face and is just happy to be in the place and happy to be here, which makes me happy to be here.

“It is just one of those realities.”

Often, it catches Menghestab off guard when it materializes how much his teammates love him. On the field, a lot of the respect that comes his way is due to the fact he frequently attracts double teams to free up his teammates to make plays.

During the 42-15 victory over the Winnipeg Rifles on August 24 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, Menghestab was reminded that his teammates care about him a tonne. When he got a quarterback sack late in the fourth quarter of that contest, all the Hilltops players on the field exploded with excitement and the Hilltops sidelines jumped into full jubilation.

The pumped up reaction by his teammates caught Menghestab off guard.

“I don’t even realize that,” said Menghestab. “I think I just made so many friends, and I always make sure we make it like a good brotherhood around this team.

Nahom Menghestab is playing out his final CJFL season.

“I’m happy they got hyped up with that sack. I definitely was and everyone was just telling me like we were all turned up and everything. I was like, “I appreciate you boys.””

The sack celebration by the team was one of the highlights for Menghestab in his fifth and final campaign with the team. Another came on September 6 at Mosaic Stadium in Regina against the host Thunder. On that night, Menghestab knocked down a pass attempt from Thunder quarterback Adam Mosher with 1:24 left in the quarter on a third down gamble that ultimately allowed the Hilltops to turn an 18-15 lead into an 18-15 victory.

More good memories were made by Menghestab and the entire Hilltops team on Sunday. They traveled to Shouldice Athletic Park in Calgary and crushed the host Colts 51-3 in a CJFL regular season contest. Saskatoon jumped out to a 20-3 lead at halftime and cruised from there.

With the victory, the Hilltops push their winning streak out to four games improving to 4-1, while the Colts fall to 2-3. The Hilltops finish a stretch of playing three straight games on the road traveling to Sherwood Park, Alta., this coming Sunday to face the host Edmonton Wildcats (2-3) at 1 p.m. at Emerald Hills Regional Park.

Menghestab wants every moment in his final campaign to be cherished.

“I think it is just realizing how fast everything went by,” said Menghestab, who stands 6-feet and weighs 300 pounds. “My first year, I was enjoying it and everything.

“In the second year, I got hurt and missed my season. I had the rest of the three years, and it is just coming to my last year CJFL is amazing, but it goes by so fast. I make sure everyone knows that to enjoy it.”

Sargeant said Menghestab is a great Hilltops success story. The sideline boss remembers when Menghestab came to the Hilltops as an 18-year-old graduate of the St. Joseph High School Guardians Football Team in 2021 that the defensive tackle had a lot of potential to grow in a lot of different ways.

Nahom Menghestab (#69) is lined up next to Johnathon Stevens.

From that beginning, Menghestab became a starter on the Hilltops defensive line in his third year in 2023, when Saskatoon went 12-0 overall to win a 23^rd CJFL championship. Sargeant said it has been great to see Menghestab become a dominant run stopper and sort of like a team favourite.

“He is such a nice guy and wants to do well and wants to be respected by his teammates,” said Sargeant. “More importantly, I think he has gained respect of the league now.

“He is absolutely one of our top run defenders. Him and John Stevens inside the A and B gapers make the game so difficult for the opposition.”

Sargeant said Menghestab is big time appreciated by the team’s coaches for his relentless work taking on double teams and filling the role that sees others make plays and pile up statistics. With that said, Sargeant added Menghestab is finding ways to make plays.

“He has got the toughest job,” said Sargeant. “He is drawing double teams all the time.

“Not only is he taking two guys on to free up our linebackers to allow them to run to the ball, he is doing all the dirty work. What makes him so unique is he has got an unreal ability to get off those blocks and make plays. (In the win over the Rifles), he got a big sack and you know he is always getting eight to 10 defensive points, which as a nose, you don’t see that in the rest of the league.

“He is a very unique talent, and I’m sure glad he is on our team and just how he goes about business. He is in the film room leading guys and asking questions. He is always growing.”

Nahom Menghestab (#69) is skilled at getting past blockers.

Menghestab has never shied away from the contact side of the game. He has always enjoyed that aspect of the sport from when he started playing in the Kinsmen Football League in Saskatoon in Grade 5. He is always up for the challenge of facing a double team, which is something he has been dealing with since his high school days.

“I’ve definitely got used to it because of Joe’s and everything,” said Menghestab. “I was always played as a nose (tackle).

“I think just with (defensive line) coach “Fish” (Dave Fisher), coach “Sarge” (Tom Sargeant) and (defensive coordinator) coach Jeff (Yausie) telling me like it is a selfless job (helps). You have to be helping your linebackers not getting touched. I think it is that feeling knowing that I have that as something on my shoulders that gives me strength to do it.

“I do have those times where I do want to take that one guy and just get it. I definitely am happy that my linebackers can get that chance to get that tackle.”

Looking back on his entire football career, Menghestab said he has fond memories playing high school football with the Guardians. He still believes the team could have done great things in his Grade 12 year, which was nixed due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. Still, that didn’t take away from the memories he already made.

“When I was playing at St. Joe’s, there were amazing players there,” said Menghestab. “We had Trey Reider.

“We had a crazy running back in Kayden Miller and Nathan Jule and Chase Tataryn. Our team was really good and stacked. It is just with the coach and everything it was like a new feel, a new vibe.

“I wish we still had that year in Grade 12 to dominate again, but Grade 11 definitely made an impact in that. I’m glad to have Dalton (Urban) and some of the guys here from Joe’s to play with.”

Nahom Menghestab is living in the moment with the Hilltops.

As the 2025 campaign goes forward, Menghestab is all about staying in the moment. 

He believes that is the best way to go about enjoying his final season with the team.

“I’m definitely trying to make sure I go game by game like every week,” said Menghestab. “I try not to go overhead and think about the future and all that.

“It is something where I do want to win it all, because it is the last year with me and Johnny (Stevens) and Ryan Adamko. Those guys were with me since first year. It is just trying to win that “ship” one more time.”

Johnson to speak at End Zone Dinner

Evan Johnson in action for the Roughriders on July 15, 2023.

One of the CFL’s all-time steady veterans on the offensive line is coming to the Saskatoon Hilltops End Zone Dinner.

Evan Johnson, who played seven CFL seasons from 2017 to 2024, will be the guest speaker for the annual event that raises money for the Hilltops scholarships and bursaries. The End Zone Dinner is slated for Saturday, September 27, at the main hall in the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building located on the south end zone of Saskatoon Minor Football Field on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.

The doors open at 4:15 p.m. and the dinner follows at 5 p.m. A ticket to the End Zone Dinner includes a ticket to that night’s regular season contest against the Hilltops provincial rivals the Regina Thunder. That game is slated for 7 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

Johnson graduated high school from Regina’s Campbell Collegiate and moved on to play football in the U Sports ranks from 2012 to 2016 with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. He would be selected in the first round and ninth overall by the Ottawa Redblacks in the 2017 CFL Draft.

From 2017 to 2019, Johnson played 52 regular season games with the Redblacks making starts at left guard, right tackle and left tackle. He suited up for the Redblacks in their 27-16 loss to the Calgary Stampeders in the 2018 Grey Cup played at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alta.

From 2021 to 2023, Johnson played 48 regular season contests with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. He moved on from the Roughriders to appear in 10 games with the Hamilton Tigers-Cats in 2024.

Johnson, who is 31-years-old, is married to Dallis (Aiken) Johnson, who is a former defensive back with the powerhouse Saskatoon Valkyries of the WWCFL. They reside in Saskatoon where Evan Johnson works for an engineering firm.

Tickets for the Hilltops End Zone Dinner can be purchased by clicking right here.

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