Pickett only football national player of the
year for U of S
 |
| Adam Machart is having a stellar season for the Huskies. |
Machart is having a dream season at running back with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies football team. In helping the Huskies amass a 4-2 U Sports regular season record, Machart has already posted the third best rushing regular season in the history of the program.
He has carried the ball 109 times for 931 yards and scored
seven touchdowns. With the Huskies having two games left on their regular
season schedule, there is an outside chance Machart could break the Huskies
record for most rushing yards in one regular season set by Doug Rozon in 1999,
when Rozon carried the ball 151 times for 1,267 yards and five touchdowns.
When the Huskies thumped the University of Manitoba Bisons
49-21 on Oct. 4, Machart had the third best rushing game in the history of the
Huskies program carrying the ball 23 times for 219 yards and two touchdowns.
Through the air this season, Machart has caught 16 passes
for 153 yards and hit the end zone twice.
 |
| Adam Machart has rushed for seven touchdowns this season. |
For his part, the 22-year-old isn’t concerning himself where
he could be in the race as far as individual awards go.
“I try not
to think about it,” said Machart, who stands 5-foot-8 and weighs 185 pounds. “We
have a couple of games here left, so we can’t start looking too far ahead.
“We just
have to keep winning games as an offence and as a team, so we’re just going to
keep doing that.”
Machart is in his second season with the Huskies after spending
three campaigns from 2015 to 2017 with the venerable Saskatoon Hilltops.
He
helped the Hilltops win CJFL national titles in each of those seasons.
 |
| Adam Machart (#20) has rushed for 931 yards in six games. |
Before joining the Hilltops, Machart played high school
football with Saskatoon’s Centennial Collegiate Chargers.
While the Huskies have had many great seasons including
winning the Hardy Cup as Canada West champions 19 times and the Vanier Cup as U
Sports national champions three times, only one member of the football squad
has ever won the Hec Crighton Trophy since it was first awarded in 1967.
That one Hec Crighton award win came way back in 1973, when
quarterback David Pickett was the U Sports national player of the year for
football leading the Huskies to a 6-2 regular season record.
 |
| Adam Machart, right, has the Huskies third best rushing season. |
At the time, Pickett’s completions,
passing yards and touchdown passes were all Huskies records for one regular season
and were numbers that were way beyond what anyone else put up in the Canada
West Conference in that campaign.
It took 15 years before Pickett’s regular season team records
for passing yards and touchdown passes were surpassed. His mark for completions
in one season stood until 2010.
Huskies fell in a one-game playoff for the Canada West title
21-8 to the Bisons in 1973.
Knowing how long the odds can be when it comes to winning
the Hec Crighton Trophy, Huskies head coach Scott Flory said the team’s focus
is on finishing the regular season strong before heading into playoffs.
“We don’t
worry about any of that stuff,” said Flory, whose Huskies are the defending
Canada West champions. “We wanted to make sure we get back here and get these
two games.
 |
| Adam Machart has caught 16 passes for 153 yards and two TDs this season. |
The Huskies will be guaranteed a second place finish in
Canada West and will host a home playoff game, if they win their last two
regular season outings.
The Dogs return to action on Saturday, Oct. 19, when they
travel to Vancouver, B.C., to face the University of British Columbia
Thunderbirds (1-5).
U of S closes the regular season on Saturday, Oct. 26 by
hosting the University of Alberta Golden Bears (4-2) at 2 p.m. at Griffiths
Stadium.
Huskies star left guard Mattland Riley said it would be nice
if Machart could win the Hec Crighton Trophy, but added individual awards are
far from the first concern of the squad.
“That would
be great, but to be honest, we’re focused right now on UBC,” said Riley. “All
the awards and stuff like that, that will come when our team succeeds, but it
is the team.
 |
| Adam Machart (#20) hopes to enjoy my team success with the Huskies. |
For now, Machart wants to help the Huskies win their last
two games and become the third player in team history to reach the 1,000-yard
mark in rushing.
He believes that would be a good way to pay tribute to the offensive line that blocks for him including starters in left tackle Noah Zerr, Riley, centre Connor Berglof, right guard Tanner Secord and right tackle Nick Summach.
He believes that would be a good way to pay tribute to the offensive line that blocks for him including starters in left tackle Noah Zerr, Riley, centre Connor Berglof, right guard Tanner Secord and right tackle Nick Summach.
“It would
be a huge honour,” said Machart about the possibility of getting to 1,000 yards
rushing. “Obviously, I’m just going to take it one game at a time.
“If I were
to reach that milestone, it would be a huge honour.”
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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