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| Doug Fleming throws a pass at a Hilltops scrimmage. |
This past Sunday, the venerable Hilltops found themselves trailing the Edmonton Huskies 14-0 at halftime at Jasper Place Bowl in Edmonton, Alta. In the second half, the Hilltops rallied to pull out an 18-17 victory in rain soaked conditions on opening day of the CJFL regular season.
Quarterback Doug Fleming, who doubles as the club’s punter, kicked a punt single on the last play of the game to record the winning point of the contest. Fleming started the game for the Hilltops but was pulled at halftime in favour of backup Damon Dutton.
Dutton engineered the second half comeback that included hitting veteran receiver Dillan Heintz with a 38-yard pass on the Hilltops final drive to create the chance to score the winning point.
“The kids showed enough poise and guts and confidence to stay together and play and win,” said Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant. “You certainly never like to switch quarterbacks at halftime, but I thought Damon Dutton came in and gave us some life and made some plays and the players rallied around him.
“Our defence, any time you give up 17 points in the PFC we feel that is a pretty positive. At the end of the day, the focus of this time right now is blocking, tackling, catching, throwing, running and just the basics of the game. If everyone does their job and we play hard and do it together, it is going to result in pretty good play.
“We didn’t do that consistent enough on Sunday.”
Following that opening day comeback win, the Hilltops have been extra focused on the film room and at practice on Ron Atchison Field preparing for their next game this coming Sunday against the Colts in Calgary at Shouldice Park.
The Colts dropped a 36-25 decision with past Sunday at home against the Edmonton Wildcats in the season opener for both of those squads.
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| Damon Dutton throws a pass at a Hilltops scrimmage. |
“Doug (Fleming) is going to come in against Calgary,” said Sargeant. “He is our starting quarterback.
“At the end of the day, they are both going to play. Doug is a great kid and a great leader. Damon (Dutton) is a real good football player.
“They are both going to play. At the end of the day, Damon (Dutton) has earned some minutes and some opportunity. Doug needs to get out there and show us that his is more capable than what he did last week.”
Sargeant, who also doubles as the Hilltops offensive coordinator, said the coaches have to elevate their games going forward and that included him as well.
“As coaches, we have to own some of that too on the performance,” said Sargeant. “I’ve met with both quarterbacks.
“I had great visits with them. As I said, they both know that they can play better, and they want to do better. I guarantee you they are going to practice harder, and we’re going to see hopefully better results in the future.”
Sargeant added the Huskies have often made life difficult for opposing quarterbacks in recent years and played the Hilltops tough. He said that was added into all the evaluations of the Hilltops last outing too.
“The Edmonton Huskies are extremely well coached,” said Sargeant. “Their defensive concepts and systems we haven’t quite cracked the code yet.
“That is on us. We’ll keep working at it. We’ll keep striving to improve.
“At the end of the day, you have to tip your hat off to your opponent as well. They came out, they were at home, and they played a real good football game.”
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| The Hilltops are focused on continual improvement. |
Both signal callers remember former Hilltops star starting quarterback Jordan Walls was never totally happy with his performances against the Huskies in his career even though Walls was victorious in every encounter with the Edmonton side.
Both Fleming and Dutton, who strongly support each other, admitted getting the Huskies in the opener was a big challenge.
“It was a little more difficult than I would like it to be,” said Fleming. “I mean they are a really good team, and they play us really, really well.
“Obviously, Wallsy wouldn’t like his games too much, because they know how to play us. It was just a little bit of growing pains out there, but that is kind of expected.”
“It was a challenge,” said Dutton. “All we had to do really was stick to what we know and trust the coaches and trust each other.
“We were able to go out and execute in the second half there.”
Fleming was pleased to kick the winning point for the Hilltops but noted he would have rather won in a more sound fashion.
“It was cool,” said Fleming. “We would have rather have not been in that situation and would have rather won the game a little bit more cleanly than that.”
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| The Hilltops are preparing to face the Colts this coming Sunday. |
He hit speedy pass catcher Ethan Godson with a 22-yard touchdown pass to tie the game up at 17-17 with 5:27 remaining in the fourth quarter.
“It was exciting,” said Dutton. “It was that time of the game, and some guys had to step up and the coaches they were calling great plays.
“The O-line was doing their thing. They were holding off the D-line. The running game was really working, so it was a mixture of a bunch of things.
“Obviously, it was very, very exciting to be able to be part of that group making that push for the end of the game there.”
Fleming gets PFC special teams player of the
week nod
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| Doug Fleming picked up a weekly PFC award. |
Fleming, who doubles as the Hilltops punter, was the named the special teams player of the week for the Prairie Football Conference on Tuesday. In the Hilltops 18-17 opening day win over the Huskies at Jasper Place Bowl in Edmonton, Alta., Fleming punted the ball 13 times for 455 yards for an average of 35 yards per punt.
The veteran in his third full CJFL season had 407 net yards off his 13 punts for a net average of 31.3 yards per punt.
On the last play of the game, Fleming kicked a punt single to break a 17-17 tie and give the Hilltops an 18-17 victory.
Fleming was appreciative of the weekly honour, but he wants to have better outings as a signal caller so he doesn’t have to kick as much.
“It was nice, but I’d rather not have to punt 13 times in a game,” said Fleming. “I’d rather not have to use me as a punter.”
Calgary Colts receiver Brendt Adams was the PFC’s offensive player of the week, while Winnipeg Rifles defensive back Joseph Funk-Clements took honours as the PFC’s defensive player of the week.
Dale makes history as first female to play
CJFL game
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| Emmarae Dale made CJFL history this past Sunday. |
This past Sunday, Dale became the first female player to suit up and play a game in the CJFL helping the Hilltops slip past the Edmonton Huskies 18-17 at Jasper Place Bowl in Edmonton, Alta.
Dale, who is one of the Hilltops middle linebackers, recorded a special teams tackle in the win.
She was added to the Hilltops roster last year and took part in the six practice weeks the team held in September and October. The 2020 CJFL season was wiped out due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that has gripped the world.
Dale’s older brothers Anthony and Donovan both played for the Hilltops in the late 2000s and early 2010s, so she was pretty pumped to play in last Sunday’s game.
“It was pretty surreal,” said Dale, who stands 5-foot-6. “I think it was just such a long time coming that it is kind of weird to think that it has already come and gone.
“It was the first game back since COVID. I think everyone is still just kind of getting the rust off after such a long wait, but it was awesome being there. I think even when I was just first putting on the shoulder pads and the Hilltops jersey it definitely kind of hit me that it was going to be a big game and very meaningful game.
“It was really awesome. It was definitely exciting and humbling. It was just a lot of emotions just kind of wrapped into one I think.”
Before joining the Hilltops, the 23-year-old Dale starred for the Saskatoon Valkyries from 2016 to 2019 helping them win Western Women’s Canadian Football League titles in 2016 and 2019. She was also a member of the University of Saskatchewan Huskies women’s track and field for four seasons through to the end of the 2019-20 campaign specializing in throwing events.
Since the September 15, 2020 announcement that Dale had officially cracked the Hilltops roster, she has been regularly featured by various media outlets across Canada.
End Zone Dinner is back for Hilltops
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| A Scott Schultz card. |
The club wasn’t able to hold the fundraising dinner a year ago due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year’s dinner will be held on September 11 at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. The guest speakers will be a pair of former Saskatchewan Roughriders members in defensive lineman Scott Schultz and linebacker Mike McCullough.
Schultz, who is originally from Moose Jaw, Sask., played for the Roughriders from 2002 to 2009 and helped Saskatchewan win the 2007 Grey Cup as CFL champions.
McCullough suited up for the Roughriders for 11 seasons from 2003 to 2013 helping the team to Grey Cup wins in 2007 and 2013. The 2013 championship was won at the Roughriders historic home park in Taylor Field.
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| A Mike McCullough card. |
Following dinner, the Hilltops will hold their home opener at 7 p.m. hosting their provincial rivals the Regina Thunder at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, which is right next to the Gordie Howe Sports Centre on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds.
Single tickets for the dinner are $100 or a table of eight can be bought for $725.
Tickets can be purchased online by clicking on a link right here.
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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