Hilltops’ Sawi explodes against Huskies in 38-10 victory

The Hilltops celebrate a second TD by Charles Sawi on Sunday.

Charles Sawi was humble and appreciative from the love he received from his Saskatoon Hilltops family.

He said his teammates made his first two career CJFL touchdowns feel that much more special and Sunday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field a day he will never forget. In the first quarter of the Hilltops clash with the Edmonton Huskies, the 17-year-old rookie running back scored on a 40-yard swing pass reception and 31-yard run off a reverse helping power his squad to a 38-10 CJFL regular season victory.

On both plays Sawi got into the end zone, the Hilltops players on the field and on the bench burst into joyful cheers and charged towards the shifty open field runner offering pats on the back, hugs, applause and congratulations.

Charles Sawi blows past a defender on a 40-yard TD reception.

“There is no other better feeling than that,” said Sawi, who stands 5-foot-10 and weighs 170 pounds. “Like oh my gosh, it was probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in such a long time.

“I thought this would not happen at all. It felt really good. I’m really happy that my team is excited for me.”

On the day, Sawi touched the ball just five times, but he still put up 113 all-purpose yards. He had three carries for 52 yards and his one rushing major, 40 yards receiving on his one catch that went for a major and one kickoff return for 21 yards.

“The kid’s got a gift,” said legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant about Sawi. “Number one, he is a great kid.

Charles Sawi bursts his way to a 31-yard TD run.

“He came out today. We added him up into the offensive plan. He has certainly produced and did some good things.

“Now, we’ll expand the repertoire even more and put him in more situations where he can give us that explosive element that certainly is fun to watch.”

On a day when the scoreboard malfunctioned at SMF Field causing the officials to relay the time on the clock to the coaching staffs on both teams, Sawi might have been able to blow out the scoreboard had it been working properly on a sunny day with temperatures reaching 34 C.

Just over five minutes into the first quarter, Hilltops quarterback Damon Dutton dumped a pass out to Sawi in the left flat, and Sawi burst, spun and weaved his way to a 40-yard scoring reception giving the Hilltops a 7-0 lead.

Charles Sawi had 113 all-purpose yards on five touches on Sunday.

“I caught it, and instantly I was just like go to the end zone, go to the end zone, go to the end zone,” said Sawi. “That is what I did.

“I exploded past the other defenders and got in the touchdown area.”

Just over four minutes later, the Hilltops pushed their lead out to 10-0 off a 21-yard field goal from kicker Connor Green, who is in his first year with the Hilltops.

At that point, the Hilltops defence came through with a big play, when defensive end Riece Kack intercepted Huskies quarterback Carson Neitz. Kack returned the interception 25 yards setting the offence up deep in Huskies territory.

Charles Sawi is overjoyed by the support he gets from his teammates.

Kack said he anticipated the Huskies were going to run a short pass play he saw in film study and dropped into the area he expected the ball to thrown to. After catching the ball, Kack said he had visions of going all the way to the end zone, but those visions faded as he didn’t feel like a running back or a receiver running down the field.

“I was hoping for the first five seconds,” said Kack, who had a sack and three total tackles on Sunday. “As soon as I started running, I felt like Vince Wilfork (who was a very large run stopping defensive tackle in the NFL) running it.

“The main goal was to not fumble it, so I kind of just went down. It would have been pretty special to get in.”

Riece Kack had an interception and a sack for the Hilltops.

A short time later, Sawi scored his second touchdown of the game with this coming on a reverse run, where he made a spectacular 31-yard jaunt, bursting, spinning and breaking out of tackles on his way to pay dirt give the Hilltops a 17-0 lead. Sawi said that once he had the ball in his hands that once again all he thought about was getting into the end zone any way he could.

He didn’t think he would get his first two career CJFL touchdowns in just his second career CJFL game.

“It felt really good,” said Sawi. “I was not expecting it within my rookie year.

“I thought it was going to be next year. Otherwise, yeah, it felt really great. I’m really happy that I scored for the Hilltops.

“I couldn’t do anything better than that.”

Boston Davidsen runs for tough yards up the middle.

Following Sawi’s touchdown, the Hilltops got a rouge on an 85-yard kickoff single from Green to make their lead stand at 18-0 heading into the second quarter.

After the teams played through a scoreless second quarter, the Huskies hit the scoreboard at the 4:58 mark of the third quarter with a 38-yard field goal from kicker Laine Santos to trim the Hilltops edge to 18-3.

If there were any thoughts of a comeback, the Hilltops quickly dashed them. Before the third quarter ended, the Hilltops got a 38-yard field goal and Dutton hit second-year receiver Noah Flaman with an eight-yard touchdown pass to surge the Hilltops lead out to 28-3.

The Hilltops offence was set up with a short field for the Flaman touchdown after third-year backup linebacker Andy Scrivens blocked a punt and the ball was recovered by second-year defensive lineman Ben Marce.

Damon Dutton completed 18-of-21 passes for 212 yards and three TDs.

Just 58 seconds into the fourth quarter, Dutton hit third-year receiver Boden Marley with a 27-yard touchdown toss in increase the host side’s advantage to 35-3. That score saw both teams begin substituting in their backup players for the rest of that frame.

With 4:35 remaining in the fourth, the Huskies were able to get a major score on a four-yard run from backup running back Mikey Pang to cut the Hilltops lead to 35-10.

Abel-Douglas rounded out the 38-10 final score booting a 22-yard field goal for the Hilltops with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.

A pair of Hilltops players combine on a special teams tackle.

Overall, Sargeant like Sunday’s performance by his team better than their 19-10 Week 1 win at home over the Winnipeg Rifles.

“We really had a much better week of practice,” said Sargeant. “I think that first game Winnipeg exposed some things on us, so we were able to correct and coach.

“This week it was a bit better performance by everyone. Saying all that, I can’t wait to get back to the drawing board and make this team even better. I saw a lot of good things, and I feel real positive with the effort.

“At the end of the day, we got to play all our kids, and that is awesome.”

Dutton completed 18-of-21 passes for 212 yards, three touchdowns and without an interception for the Hilltops. Power running back Boston Davidsen topped the Hilltops with 62 yards rushing on 11 carries, and Marley lead all receivers with eight catches for 91 yards to go with his touchdown reception.

Boden Marley scores a major on a 27-yard reception.

The Huskies started Neitz at quarterback, but they rotated him at that position with Jordan Lane. Neitz completed 10-of-18 passes for 101 yards, while throwing his interception to Kack. Lane connected on 6-of-11 passes for 79 yards.

Star running back Alex Gayle was the Huskies most productive offensive producer running the ball 21 times for 109 yards, and he caught four passes for 34 yards. Receiver Adner St. Hilaire led the Huskies with 37 receiving yards coming off two catches.

Middle linebacker Matt Wist led Saskatoon with 5.5 total tackles. Defensive back Maurice Dubois topped the Huskies with seven total tackles, while defensive lineman Jacob Hegerfeldt had a sack for the Edmonton side.

Trey Reider throws a pass for the Hilltops.

The Hilltops improved to 2-0 with the win, while the Huskies fell to 1-1.

Kack was pleased his defensive unit had strong performances in the first two weeks of the season. He admitted the final score against the Huskies surprised him a little, and the games between the Hilltops and Huskies for about the last six years have been hard fought.

Sunday’s game marked the only regular season meeting between the two sides in 2022, and Kack believes the Huskies will be a stronger team, if the two sides should meet in the post-season.

“We thought that it was going to be probably closer than it was,” said Kack. “Next time if we do end up seeing them again, I’m sure they will give us a better fight.”

The Hilltops return to action this coming Sunday when they travel to Winnipeg to take on the 0-2 Rifles. While the Hilltops were beating the Huskies, the Rifles dropped a 24-22 heartbreaker to the Thunder in Regina.

The Hilltops and Huskies shake hands after Sunday’s game.

Sargeant said the Rifles are a legit strong team, and he didn’t mind the fact his Hilltops have to play them twice in the first three weeks of the 2022 campaign.

“At the end of the day, we learned a tonne, and we have a tonne to do to improve for that,” said Sargeant. “As I said, we are going to enjoy this one, because this was a big effort today.

“I challenged the guys during the week to sort of man up and just practice harder and better. As I said, I saw what I needed to see today to move this team forward the way it needs to be moved.”

Roughriders alum Hughes coming to End Zone Dinner

Neal Hughes gets pictured with a couple of small fans in 2011.

Saskatchewan Roughriders alum Neal Hughes will be the special guest speaker at this year’s Saskatoon Hilltops End Zone Dinner.

The End Zone Dinner will be held on Saturday, September 10 at the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building on the Gordie Howe Sports Complex grounds. Doors open for the dinner at 4:15 p.m. with food to be served at 5:15 p.m. The funds raised at the dinner go towards the Hilltops scholarship fund.

Hughes, who is from Regina, played 11 CFL seasons at fullback for the Roughriders from 2004 to 2014 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.

During his time with the Roughriders, Hughes mainly focused on blocking duties as a fullback or from a tight end position and covered kicks on special teams. He also showed his versatility in being able to make big plays running the football, catching it out of the backfield or punting it when required.

Before joining the Roughriders, Hughes played six seasons with the Regina Rams as their star running back. He suited up for the Rams as a rookie in 1998, when they played their final season in the CJFL capturing their 15^th and final CJFL championship.

Hughes played with the Rams during their first five seasons in the U Sports ranks as the University of Regina Rams helping them advance to the U Sports championship game – the Vanier Cup – in 2000. The Rams fell 42-39 in that contest to the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees.

Following the End Zone Dinner, the Hilltops will face their provincial rivals in the Regina Thunder at 7 p.m. 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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