Reider has been the difference for Hilltops in 2023

Trey Reider has quarterbacked the Hilltops to a 10-0 mark in 2023.

Trey Reider has gotten the Saskatoon Hilltops over the hump.

During the 2023 CJFL season, Reider has given the Hilltops consistent play at quarterback. With that consistent play, the Hilltops have posted a 10-0 record and captured the Prairie Football Conference championship.

The Hilltops close out their home schedule on Sunday, when they host the Ontario Football Conference champion St. Clair Saints (10-0), who are based out of Windsor, in a CJFL semifinal contest at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.

The winner advances to the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl – which will be played on November 11 against the British Columbia Football Conference champion Westshore Rebels (12-0) in Victoria, B.C. The start time to the game is still to be announced.

During the Hilltops eight regular season games, Reider has completed 108-of-167 passes for 1,571 yards and 16 touchdowns, while throwing five interceptions during the regular season. He topped the PFC with a 114.6 quarterback efficiency rating, was named a PFC all-star and took honours as the PFC’s Most Outstanding Quarterback.

Thanks to the fact the Hilltops have a strong running game behind star power running back in PFC MVP Boston Davidsen and the Hilltops defence has given up just 66 points in the club’s 10 outings, Reider hasn’t had to go out and gun the football all over the field like Warren Moon.

The 21-year-old signal caller has done his job in making good decisions and being efficient in the passing game in order to compliment the Hilltops running game, defence and the squad’s special teams unit, which has had a good campaign too.

After returning to action after the 2020 CJFL campaign was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world, the Hilltops didn’t get consistent enough play from the quarterback position in 2021 and 2022. The quarterbacks had some great games in those campaigns, but they also had outings where things stalled out.

Trey Reider has been efficient at QB for the Hilltops.

In 2021, Doug Fleming started the first three regular season games at quarterback for the Hilltops before he got benched after he struggled for a stretch. Damon Dutton took over as the starting quarterback for the rest of that campaign starting with the team’s fourth regular season contest.

The Hilltops finished 6-2 in the regular season and finished with an 8-3 record overall after falling in a CJFL semifinal to the Rams in Langley, B.C., 17-14 after turning the ball over 12 times.

In 2022, Dutton began the campaign as the Hilltops starting quarterback, but after he struggled for a stretch, Reider was inserted at the starting spot for the last three regular season games and both of the club’s post-season contests. The Hilltops made it to the PFC final falling to the Thunder in Regina 39-21.

The Hilltops posted a 5-3 record in the regular season due to a three-game skid and went 6-4 overall. That 6-4 overall mark was the worst record the Hilltops had posted since going 6-4 overall in 1993.

Fleming departed from the Hilltops following the 2021 campaign, and Dutton exhausted his CJFL eligibility with the completion of the 2022 season.

Saskatoon was good but not good enough in 2021 and 2022.

Reider is showing was the storied CJFL club can do with consistent play at quarterback. When the Hilltops won nine CJFL titles in a 10-year period from 2010 to 2019, they never had questions at the quarterback spot.

When the Hilltops won three straight CJFL titles from 2010 to 2012, the late Chase Bradshaw played quarterback with great athleticism and humbleness in the 2010 and 2011 title wins, and Matt Karpinka held down the controls under centre for the 2012 championship win.

In the Hilltops run of winning six straight CJFL titles from 2014 to 2019, Jared Andreychuk quarterbacked the Hilltops in expert fashion to championships in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Jordan Walls was the master at the controls in the title wins in 2017 and an 11-0 perfect season 2018.

Tyler Hermann had the opportunity to call signals as the starting quarterback for one season as a fifth-year senior in 2019, and he put together a memorable campaign that saw the Hilltops go 12-0 in winning the CJFL championship.

Trey Reider (#3) is pictured with the PFC championship trophy.

Over that 10-year run from 2010 to 2019, the Hilltops were spoiled with great play at quarterback, and it went so long that you could almost take it for granted. When the quarterback play was a step under from the level of what those Hilltops signal callers performed to from 2010 to 2019, the drop was noticeable.

In 2023, Reider has given the Hilltops their best play at the quarterback spot since the 10-year run from 2010 to 2019. As a result, the Hilltops record in 2023 has been better than it was in 2021 and 2022.

With Reider at the controls, you have to like the Hilltops chances at potentially getting two more wins to capture a 23^rd CJFL title in the team’s history that dates back to 1947.

Hilltops first CJFL title came against Saints club in 1953

The Saskatoon Hilltops saw one of their defining moments as a team come to pass against the St. Clair Saints franchise.

On Sunday at 1 p.m. at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the PFC champion Hilltops host the OFC champion Saints, who are based out of Windsor, in a CJFL semifinal final. The Saints first trip to Saskatoon came way back in 1953, when they were known as the Windsor AKO Fratmen.

Back in 1953, the modern day current version of the Hilltops were in their seventh year of existence, and they were playing host to the AKO Fratmen in the CJFL title game. The AKO Fratmen entered the contest as defending CJFL champions having defeated the visiting Edmonton Wildcats 15-12 in Windsor in the previous year’s national final.

The Hilltops made it to the CJFL championship game in their second year of existence, but they dropped a 23-10 decision to the Wildcats in Hamilton.

Excitement was high for the 1953 title game in Saskatoon, and the first 4,300 tickets for the contest at Griffiths Stadium on the University of Saskatchewan campus sold out quickly. Another 2,900 tickets were sold for the game bringing the attendance to 7,200, which was a record at the time for a CJFL title game played on the Prairies. The large gathering circled the field at Griffiths Stadium.

Hilltops quarterback Ron Adam hooked up with Bill Trout on a sleeper play for the game’s first touchdown and the hosts never looked back. The Hilltops stormed to a 34-6 victory on a -1 C day to capture the then league championship trophy the Leader-Post Trophy, which was also known as “the Little Grey Cup,” as CJFL champions.

For historical references, touchdowns in 1953 were worth five points instead of six points before teams tried to tack on a one or two-point conversion.

In the 1953 CJFL title game, Adam’s arm was golden in that contest as he completed 12-of-20 passes for 317 yards and three touchdowns. At the time, football was way more geared to the run, and it was common for the offensive line to contain seven players. It was very rare for quarterbacks at that time to eclipse 300 yards in passing in those days as Adam did.

Adam also ran home a major score from 13 yards out.

At that time, the CJFL drew big crowds as the main feeder for the CFL. Following the 1953 CJFL title game, Adam, who passed away in 2014, went on to play seven seasons with the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders mainly as a defensive back.

At the Canadian university level, the first Vanier Cup to declare a national champion wasn’t played until 1965.

The Hilltops and AKO Fratmen met in a CJFL title game in 1996 in a neutral site clash in Oshawa, Ont. Saskatoon romped to a 39-7 victory. The two sides collided in the 2017 CJFL title game in Windsor, which the Hilltops claimed 56-11.

The Saints/AKO Fratmen franchise last won the CJFL championship in 1999, when they defeated the visiting Kelowna, B.C., based Okanagan Sun 32-29 in Windsor.

The St. Clair College Student Athletic Association bought the Fratmen in February of 2020. The club played as the St. Clair Fratmen in 2021 and took on the St. Clair Saints name before the start of the 2022 campaign.

Rebels knock off Sun for BCFC title, other notes

The road to the Canadian Bowl will lead to Starlight Stadium in Langford, which is a suburb of Victoria, B.C.

On Saturday at that venue, the host Westshore Rebels downed the defending CJFL champion Okanagan Sun 33-19 to capture the Cullen Cup as British Columbia Football Conference champions. With the win, the Rebels, who improved to 12-0 overall, advance to host the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl – on November 11 at Starlight Stadium.

The Rebels will play the winner of the CJFL semifinal between the PFC champion Saskatoon Hilltops and OFC champion St. Clair Saints. The CJFL semifinal between the Hilltops and the visiting Saints is set for Sunday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field at 1 p.m. Both squads enter that contest with 10-0 overall records.

In Saturday’s BCFC title clash between the Rebels and the Sun, the Sun took a 12-4 lead into halftime. The Rebels proceeded to score 29 unanswered points in the third quarter to hold a comfortable 33-12 advantage. The Sun answered back with a touchdown in the fourth quarter to round out the 33-19 final in favour of the Rebels.

The Kelowna based Sun concluded the 2023 campaign with a 9-2 overall record.

• Rob Vanstone, who is the senior journalist and team historian of the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders, wrote a great piece on the Saskatoon Hilltops PFC championship win. That piece can be found by clicking right here.
• The Aden Bowman Collegiate Bears won the Saskatoon Secondary Schools Athletic Directorate’s 5A Football City Final with a 41-14 victory over the Bishop James Mahoney High School Saints on Friday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
• The University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team concluded their U Sports regular season with a 43-11 victory over the University of Regina Rams on Saturday at Mosaic Stadium in Regina. The Huskies finished third in the Canada West Conference with a 5-3 record, while the Rams were last in the six-team Canada West with a 1-7 mark. Attendance for Saturday’s game between the Huskies and Rams at Mosaic Stadium was 1,599.

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