Valkyries’ Day – Saskatoon snowballs momentum for third straight WWCFL title

The Valkyries raise the WWCFL championship trophy in celebration.

Winning WWCFL championships never gets old for the Saskatoon Valkyries, and neither does going on game-changing runs of momentum.

Taking on the Calgary Rage in the WWCFL Championship Game on Saturday at Griffiths Stadium, the Valkyries made the Alberta side pay a huge price for the mistakes they made. The Valkyries rolled three key Rage miscues into a 21-0 lead just 80 seconds into the second quarter of the league championship clash.

Saskatoon proceeded to cruise to a 40-0 victory from that point to claim a third consecutive WWCFL title and their eighth league championship in team history.

Makayla Sader returns an interception for the Valkyries.

“It is a credit to our team,” said Valkyries head coach Pat Barry. “Our athletes, they work so hard.

“We were talking about it before the game. January is when we start. Here at the end of June, we got to our goal, and we were successful.”

The Valkyries claimed their previous league championships in the run of three consecutive wins last year and 2019. The WWCFL’s 2020 and 2021 campaigns were cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. The Valkyries were able to play a three-game exhibition series against their provincial rivals the Regina Riot in 2021.

Saturday’s victory allowed the Valkyries to conclude their 2023 campaign with a perfect 8-0 record overall. The Valkyries have won their last 27 games in a row including two forfeit victories.

Danielle Girolami intercepts a pass for the Valkyries.

“It gets better every year for sure,” said Valkyries defensive back Makayla Sader, who enjoyed her second straight WWCFL title win with the Saskatoon powerhouse club. “I just say it gets more and more exciting.

“Just with the group of girls that I am with and just constantly growing as a team and DBs always having new girls coming and vets going, it is just awesome to always have a good group of ladies to win with.”

At the start of Saturday’s title tilt, the Rage defence came out with an inspired start. The Valkyries had the game’s first offensive possession, and the Rage forced the Saskatoon side to punt after two plays.

On ensuing punt play, the Rage special teams unit was flagged for having too many players on the field giving the Valkyries a first down. The Rage defence came back out on the field and forced the Valkyries defence to punt again after two plays.

Sarah Wright runs in her first of two touchdowns on the ground.

Calgary proceeded to face a punting situation after two plays on its first offensive possession. At that point, the Valkyries momentum began to gather up force.

After a bad snap, Calgary punter Jolene Goulard corralled and fell on the loose ball at her team’s own three yard-line.

Valkyries star running back Sarah Wright ran home a touchdown from three yards out to put the host side up 7-0 at the 3:40 mark of the first quarter.

Later in the first quarter, Goulard looked like she would put a halt to the Valkyries momentum blocking a 28-yard field goal attempt by Saskatoon kicker/receiver Grace McCorriston. Goulard was hurt on the play, but only missed a short spurt of game action.

Morgan Lindstein sets to throw a pass for the Rage.

Her missed time included a punt play on the Rage’s ensuing possession. Rage utility player Erin Walton came in to punt, but her kick was a medium-ranged one that the Valkyries were able to return inside the Calgary 20 yard-line.

The Valkyries capped the ensuing short offensive possession with a second three yard touchdown run from Wright to push the host side’s advantage to 14-0 with 2:42 remaining in the first quarter.

“Obviously, there are always some (pre-game) nerves, and I think that is something that is a part of every good team,” said Wright, who has been with the Valkyries for their last three straight WWCFL title wins. “You’re always preparing for what the other team is bringing, and we know Calgary is a hard team.

Alex Eyolfson fires her second of two touchdown passes on Saturday.

“They come and hit hard. We prepared for that, and we showed what we could do.”

Early in the second quarter, Sader intercepted Rage quarterback Morgan Lindstein to set the Valkyries up inside the Calgary 50 yard-line. The Valkyries ensuing offensive series concluded with star quarterback Alex Eyolfson hitting star receiver Ricki Obed with a 37 yard pass-and-run touchdown reception to increase the Valkyries lead to 21-0.

Sader admitted her interception helped push the Valkyries momentum to another level.

Ricki Obed goes into the end zone on her second TD reception.

“I definitely got winded, but the interception itself it had me going,” said Sader, who had a fumble recovery for the Valkyries in the win. “It had all the ladies going.

“As soon as we got one, our next goal is to get at least two picks. It just riled everybody up to just keep fighting for it, and we did. We got them.”

When Goulard got back into the game, she had to deal with another bad snap on a punt play that went into the Rage end zone. She managed to kick the ball out the back of the end zone giving up a safety to allow the Valkyries lead to grow to 23-0.

With 2:20 remaining in the second quarter, Eyolfson connected with Obed on a 14-yard touchdown toss to push Saskatoon’s lead out to 30-0.

Part of the crowd at Griffiths Stadium that came to cheer on the Valkyries.

In the third quarter, Valkyries defensive back Danielle Girolami intercepted a Lindstein pass and set up the Saskatoon offence inside the Calgary 40 yard-line. Girolami had a team leading six total tackles to go with her interception. With that noted, she was pumped to get her interception.

“It was pretty exciting,” said Girolami, who has also been with the Valkyries for their last three straight title wins. “I wanted one all year.

Emmarae Dale (#45) makes one of her five tackles for the Valkyries.

“To make it in the championship game is obviously a pretty special feeling.”

Girolami said she would have liked to have returned her interception for a touchdown and didn’t realize she accidently stepped out of bounds on the run back.

“I was just so excited,” said Girolami, who won two Saskatchewan female under-18 AAA provincial hockey titles playing defence with the Saskatoon Stars in 2015 and 2016. “I saw Emmarae (Dale) blocking for me, and I just knew with her in front of me I would have kept going.

“I think I got too excited to know where I was on the field. I was just too excited, and I was looking ahead of me. I knew Emma had my back, and I just go too excited.”

Emry Halbgewachs (#52) had a sack for the Valkyries.

Following Girolami’s interception, the ensuing Valkyries offensive series was capped by an 11-yard touchdown run by standout running back Drew Lundquist to put the Saskatoon side up 37-0 at the 5:56 mark of the third. McCorriston booted home a 21 yard field goal attempt before the third quarter ended to round out the 40-0 final score.

The contest ended in the fourth quarter with Lindstein heaving up a desperation pass that was intercepted by Valkyries rookie defensive back Sarah Zeng.

Eyolfson completed 18-of-34 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, while throwing two interceptions for the Valkyries.

Drew Lundquist (#25) runs in for a touchdown for the Valkyries.

Wright took home player of the game honours for the Valkyries carrying the ball 10 times for 66 yards to go with her two rushing touchdowns. She also caught two passes for 27 yards. The veteran running back said the game MVP for her team could have gone to a number of her teammates on Saturday.

“It is great, obviously, but there are so many other girls who were deserving of MVP,” said Wright. “I think a lot of our defence gets missed a lot of the times.

“Danielle Girolami had a great game. Makayla Sader had a pick. There were just so many people that were really deserving of it today.”

Reed Thorstad (#12) shields the ball from a defender on a catch.

Obed topped the Valkyries with 70 receiving yards coming off five catches to go with her two majors through the air.

Lindstein was named the player of the game for the Rage accounting most of her team’s offensive yardage. She completed 5-of-11 passes for 36 yards, while throwing three interceptions. Lindstein led the Rages with 64 yards rushing coming off eight carries.

Defensive end Emry Halbgewachs had four tackles and a quarterback sack for the Valkyries. Outside linebacker Sydney Schenn had 4.5 total tackles and a quarterback sack for Saskatoon, while star middle linebacker Emmarae Dale had five total tackles.

Grace McCorriston (#82) looks to get past a defender after a catch.

Amira Harb led the Rage with five total tackles. Defensive back Hanna Hachey-Raymond had four tackles and an interception for Calgary, while defensive back Margaret May Rusteika had 3.5 tackles and an interception.

The Rage closed their 2023 campaign with a 4-2 overall record. Their other loss also came against the Valkyries in a pre-season contest in Calgary back on April 22.

Sader said her defensive unit was pleased to be able to pick up a shutout in Saturday’s game.

“It was awesome,” said Sader. “I definitely appreciate all the girls that I’ve played with along the way.

The Valkyries celebrate a third straight WWCFL title win.

“It has been a great few seasons, and I can’t wait to comeback.”

With Saturday’s win in the books, the Valkyries have won the WWCFL Championship Game the last three times they’ve played in it as the host club. They took last year’s title game 36-6 against the Winnipeg based Manitoba Fearless at Saskatoon Minor Football field.

Way back on July 5, 2014, the Valkyries blanked the Lethbridge Steel 53-0 in that year’s WWCFL title game held at Griffiths Stadium.

Barry said he was proud of how his team played this season, and Saturday’s WWCFL Championship Game win was a really satisfying way to end the 2023 campaign.

“It is hard to win your last game,” said Barry. “In any sport, in football, when you win your last game, it means you’ve been successful.

The Valkyries conclude the 2023 season with a perfect 8-0 record.

“It is a credit to the athletes. It is a credit to our coaching staff. It is a credit to the whole organization.

“To see all these people out at Griffiths Stadium, it takes me back to the old days of this team. It is kind of exciting.”

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