Saskatoon completes 12-0 perfect season
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| The Hilltops get presented the Canadian Bowl. |
Playing in the final contests of their CJFL playing careers, both had monster outings for the Saskatoon Hilltops on Saturday playing in the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl. Thanks to their efforts, the visiting PFC champion Hilltops downed the host and BCFC champion Westshore Rebels 17-10 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C., which is a suburb of Victoria.
With Saturday’s win, the Hilltops claimed the CJFL title for the 23rd time in team history. It was their first CJFL championship win since 2019.
Saskatoon also completed a perfect season with a 12-0 record. That would mark the sixth time the club has posted a perfect season. The Hilltops’ first perfect season came in 1958 at 11-0, the second in 1978 at 12-0, the third in 2003 at 12-0, the fourth in 2018 at 11-0 and the fifth in 2019 at 12-0.
The Rebels entered Saturday’s clash with a 12-0 record. They finish out the 2023 campaign with a 12-1 mark and have lost all three of their CJFL championship game appearances in club history, with all those losses coming against the Hilltops.
The Hilltops mantra has been to help their graduating players leave the CJFL as champions. They also look to their graduating players to lead the way on the field.
Wist, who is the team’s star 22-year-old middle linebacker, was named the defensive player of the game. The graduate of Saskatoon’s Bethlehem Catholic High School Stars Football team collected three big interceptions to go with nine solo defensive tackles, four defensive tackle assists and one pass knockdown.
Wist was named a first team CJFL all-Canadian all-star at punter, and he delivered in that department too. With most of the contest being played in a downpour, Wist punted the ball 10 times for 306 yards for an average of 30.6 yard per kick and a net average of 27.3 yards per kick.
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| Matt Wist (#44) was the defensive player of the game. |
Expecting to play in the snow and cold at the tail end of the regular season and in the post-season, the Hilltops to their credit built their offensive unit to be balanced in the running and passing games. That type of planning helps for games played in a steady downpour too.
During the 2023 campaign, the Hilltops have been blessed with having good weather for their games. Before Saturday’s CJFL title game, the Hilltops only other adverse weather game this season came back on September 30, when they downed their provincial rivals the Regina Thunder 19-10 in a regular season contest played in a steady monsoon at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
That contest proved to provide valuable experience for what the Hilltops would face in the Canadian Bowl on Saturday at Starlight Stadium.
A crazy as it sounds, the adverse weather likely hurt the host Rebels more than the Hilltops. The Rebels have the CJFL’s marquee player in quarterback Te Jessie, who captured CJFL’s Peter Dalla Riva Outstanding Offensive player award on Friday.
In the Rebels 10 regular season games, Jessie was outstanding completing 150-of-212 passes for 2,453 yards and 41 touchdowns, while throwing seven interceptions. He had a quarterback rating of 135.1, and his 41 touchdown passes set a new record for CJFL regular season play.
Facing the Hilltops stingy defence and the rain, Jessie was limited to completing 23-of-36 passes for 221 yards, while throwing two interceptions. Jessie ran the ball 10 times for 49 yards too.
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| Boston Davidsen (#24) was the offensive player of the game. |
Late in the second quarter, Wist made his first of three interceptions catching the football after it deflected off of about two sets of hands.
With the Hilltops defence shutting down the Rebels offence, Westshore’s special teams came through with a big play. Rebels receiver Cairo Berry ran the opening kickoff in the third quarter 81 yards for a touchdown to even the score at 7-7.
A short time later, the Rebels tried to take the lead with a field goal attempt from 40 yards out. After a bad snap, holder Ethan Pickard, who is the Rebels backup quarterback, rolled out with the ball and threw it downfield only to be intercepted by Wist, who set the visitors up at their own 34 yard line.
Later on in the quarter, the Hilltops were forced to punt and Berry fumbled the ball away to be recovered by defensive back Nathan Young at the Rebels 31 yard line. On the ensuing offensive series, the Hilltops cashed that turnover into a one-yard touchdown run by Davidsen on a third-and-goal gamble. That major gave the Hilltops a 14-7 lead at the 7:08 mark of the third quarter.
At the 5:15 mark of the fourth quarter, the Hilltops pushed their edge out to 17-7 with a 40-yard field goal from first team CJFL all-Canadian kicker Teijon Abel-Douglas.
The Rebels cut the gap to 17-10 with a 30-yard field goal from kicker Gio Linuzzi with 6:25 remaining in the fourth quarter. Westshore wasn’t able to get any closer as the 17-10 score would hold up as the game’s final outcome.
Wist ended the Rebels second last offensive series with his third interception of the contest.
Reider completed 12-of-19 passes for 162 yards, one touchdown and zero interceptions. Flaman topped the Hilltops with 94 receiving yards on three catches,which included his touchdown catch.
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| The Hilltops celebrate their CJFL title win. |
Lot of players had big games on the Hilltops defence. Outside linebacker Wade Keating, who was playing the final game of his CJFL career, recorded six solo defensive tackles, four defensive tackle assists and two special teams solo tackles.
Defensive end Ben Marce had four solo defensive tackles, one defensive tackle assist and two quarterback sacks. Star defensive tackle Johnathon Stevens had three solo defensive tackles, two defensive tackle assists and one quarterback sack. Star defensive end Riece Kack had two solo defensive tackles and one quarterback sack.
For the Rebels defensively, Defensive lineman Cody McMahon had six solo defensive tackles and one defensive tackle assist. Defensive back Oluwaferanmi Okunlola had five solo defensive tackles and two defensive tackle assists.
Defensive lineman Ted Windom Jr. had four solo defensive tackles, one defensive tackle assist and one quarterback sack. Defensive lineman Praise Odogun has a fumble recovery, one solo defensive tackle, one defensive tackle assist and one pass knockdown for Westshore.
The Hilltops forced seven turnovers from the Rebels, while the Rebels made the Hilltops turn the ball over twice.
Legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant enjoyed his 17th CJFL championship with the Hilltops on Saturday. Sargeant has won 14 of those titles as a head coach, two as an assistant coach and his first came as a receiver in 1985.
The Hilltops had six players who were holdovers from their 2019 CJFL championship team in Wist, Davidsen, Keating, defensive tackle Craig Torgerson, defensive back Carter Wingert and receiver Evan Ward. They all graduate from the program with two CJFL championship rings.
Linebacker Jordan Levesque and offensive lineman Justice Walker, who joined the Hilltops after the 2019 campaign, also exhausted their CJFL eligibility at the conclusion of the Canadian Bowl. They will graduate from the Hilltops winning a CJFL championship in their final year of junior eligibility.
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| The Hilltops trophy case will repeat this look from early 2020. |
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