Two sides close regular season going head to
head
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| The Huskies and Hilltops will battle in two straight weeks. |
That is the situation facing the defending CJFL champion Saskatoon Hilltops and the Edmonton Huskies. The two sides will go at it and close out their respective regular season schedules on Sunday at Jasper Place Bowl in Edmonton at 1 p.m. local time.
The Hilltops enter the contest with a 7-0 mark having locked up first place in the Prairie Football Conference and home field advantage through the CJFL playoffs until reaching the league’s championship game – the Canadian Bowl. The Huskies are 3-4 and are cemented to finish fourth in the PFC.
That means the Hilltops and Huskies will collide for a second straight week in a PFC semifinal contest slated for 1 p.m. Sunday, October 13 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
Legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said he wants to keep the game plan to his team’s regular plays and looks and avoid putting in something special the Huskies could dissect on video for the post-season rematch. With that noted, he still wants his squad to play hard.
“For me, it is
pretty simple,” said Sargeant. “We are going to have a pretty basic game plan,
because we know they’re coming back to our place the following week.
“We’re certainly
going in with our top 46 players. We’re going there to come out in game eight
and play our best game of the year and play Hilltops football. We’re going to
do that in a specific way that we’re not going to show or expose a lot of
things that we might do in the future.”
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| Drake Douglas has 856 receiving yards this season for the Hilltops. |
“To have the same
opponent two weeks in a row, that means you can watch the same film for two
weeks in a row and really deep dive into what they’re doing and the schemes
that they’re trying to run,” said Gedir. “Our goal this week is just to go down
there and be the most physical team like it was last week and the week prior.
“We just have to
be physical and work on the fundamentals of football. The coaches are saying
this year is about getting one per cent better. As long as we get one per cent
better come Sunday afternoon in Edmonton, then we’re on the right path going
into playoffs.”
In Sunday’s clash in Edmonton, a handful of Hilltops players have shots to reach some personal milestones. Star fifth-year receiver Drake Douglas leads the PFC in receptions (47), receiving yards (856) and receiving touchdowns (eight). If Douglas collects 144 yards receiving, he will become the first player in the history of the Hilltops to hit the 1,000 yard barrier in receiving yards for the regular season in team history.
Hilltops star power running back Corbin Ebben has carried the ball 125 times for 774 yards and six touchdowns. Ebben has a long but still possible shot at hitting the 1,000 yard barrier in rushing, if he can pile up 226 yards on the ground on Sunday. In the history of the Hilltops, the individual 1,000 yard rushing season for the regular season has been accomplished 10 times.
Hilltops star defensive end Kai Kukurudza tops the PFC with seven quarterback sacks. He needs three sacks to hit double digits for total sacks in the regular season.
Hilltops star middle linebacker Isaac Michayluk is contending for the lead in defensive points in the PFC. He has 95 defensive points, which has him tied with Winnipeg Rifles outside linebacker Kyler Banfield.
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| Kai Kukurudza has seven sacks this season for the Hilltops. |
Overall for this week, Sargeant is focused on his team playing with intensity, while keeping things straight forward.
“We’re going to
keep practicing hard and developing hard,” said Sargeant. “At the end of the
day, we’re just going to play simple Hilltop football, and let’s see where it
takes us.”
Taylor, Zimmer tabbed as players of the week
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| Zaden Taylor (#10) was the PFC’s defensive player of the week. |
Taylor, who is an outside linebacker in his second of CJFL eligibility, was named the PFC’s defensive player of the week on Tuesday. On that same day, Zimmer, who is a fourth-year running back, took home honours as the PFC’s special teams player of the week for his work as the Hilltops long snapper.
In the Hilltops 36-11 victory over their provincial rivals in the Regina Thunder last Saturday, Taylor had eight defensive solo tackles, one special teams tackle assist and one interception. Zimmer had 14 perfect snaps on Saturday that included six punts, five field goal attempts and three one-point convert attempts.
Hilltops kicker Teijon Abel-Douglas successfully made all the Hilltops five field goal attempts and all three one-point convert attempts.
Edmonton Wildcats quarterback Marcos Soltero was named the PFC’s offensive player of the week on Tuesday for his efforts in his team’s 32-20 victory over the Edmonton Huskies last Saturday at the Huskies home field in Jasper Place Bowl. The win was the first victory of the campaign for the Wildcats.
In that contest, Soltero completed 21-of-30 passes for 280 yards and two touchdowns, while throwing one interception.
Seniors walk still a heartwarming Hilltops
tradition
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| Erik Barsness (#60) walks to the field with his parents. |
Before the Hilltops played their final home regular season game downing their provincial rivals the Regina Thunder 36-11 last Saturday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the Hilltops honoured their graduating players. During a pre-game ceremony, the Hilltops graduating players were announced one by one and made a walk to the field with their parents. All of the parents took the field decked out in cool looking team gear.
The nine graduating players included cornerback Justin Adamko, left guard Erik Barsness, receiver Drake Douglas, offensive lineman Jeremy Funk, outside linebacker Noah Gedir, quarterback Trey Reider, defensive halfback Isaac Rivalin, linebacker Andy Scrivens and right tackle Cody Shumanski.
All of these graduating players are still in the CJFL playing with the Hilltops even with navigating their individual journeys around the fact the 2020 campaign was cancelled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that gripped the world. There were all sorts of various restrictions and shutdowns in place when the 2020 season was supposed to happen in order to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 2020 campaign marked the first year of CJFL eligibility for this year’s group of graduating players. They are the last class that had to navigate around how pandemic restrictions affected their CJFL playing careers.
All of the Hilltops nine graduating players had sizable roles in helping the club win a 23rd CJFL championship last season and helping the storied squad post a 7-0 mark so far in the current campaign.
Roughriders great Clark rocked at End Zone
Dinner
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| Dan Clark speaks at the Hilltops End Zone Scholarship Dinner. |
The dinner was held in the main hall of the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building before the Saskatoon Hilltops downed their provincial rivals the Regina Thunder 36-11 in a CJFL regular season contest at Saskatoon Minor Football Field. Clark was a star centre Roughriders from 2009 to 2022.
He was on the Roughriders practice roster in 2009 and 2010 and was on the main roster from 2011 to 2022 appearing in 131 games. During his years on the Roughriders practice roster, Clark was playing for the Thunder. Before playing for the Thunder, Clark played high school football for Regina’s Thom Collegiate Trojans.
The 36-year-old Clark drew some good-natured chuckles about how Thunder seemingly always fell short against the Hilltops during his time with Regina’s CJFL club. He also went into how important his time was playing in high school for the Trojans and talked lots about his time with the Roughriders.
Of course, Clark’s best Roughriders memory was winning the Grey Cup 45-23 over the Hamilton Tigers-Cats on November 24, 2013 at historic Taylor Field.
For another other good-natured chuckle, Clark was asked if he advocated for big guys scoring touchdowns. Clark gained fame catching an eight-yard touchdown pass from legendary Roughriders quarterback Darian Durant in a 37-0 romp over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in a game played at Taylor Field on July 21, 2013.
On August 24, 2014, Clark caught a one-yard touchdown pass from Roughriders backup quarterback Tino Sunseri in a 20-16 victory over the British Columbia Lions at B.C. Place in Vancouver, B.C.
During his CFL career, Clark had three receptions for 21 yards to go with his two touchdowns. He said he used to advocate for big guys scoring touchdowns, but he enjoyed his spot being the most recently remembered big guy touchdown scorer for the Roughriders.
Clark said he enjoyed holding the distinction of having two touchdown receptions in his CFL career and liked to bring that up when he talks with other offensive linemen who have played in the league.
Thunder, Colts will battle for two straight weeks
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| The Thunder will face the Colts for two straight weeks. |
The Hilltops and Huskies will go at it and close out their respective regular season schedules on Sunday at Jasper Place Bowl in Edmonton at 1 p.m. local time. Saskatoon enters that contest with a 7-0 mark having locked up first place in the Prairie Football Conference and home field advantage through the CJFL playoffs until reaching the league’s championship game – the Canadian Bowl.
The Huskies are 3-4 and are cemented to finish fourth in the PFC. That means the Hilltops and Huskies will collide for a second straight week in a PFC semifinal contest slated for 1 p.m. Sunday, October 13 at Saskatoon Minor Football Field.
The Thunder (5-2) will host the Colts (4-3) on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Leibel Field in Regina. Both squads are cemented at finishing in the second and third spots in the PFC, which means they will go at it either Saturday, October 12 or Sunday, October 13 in a PFC semifinal.
The Colts split their two regular season games with the Huskies, but they hold the standings tiebreaker against the Edmonton side with a 47-41 edge in the total score of those two head-to-head contests.
Sunday’s clash between the Thunder and Colts is the only head-to-head meeting of the 2024 regular season for those two clubs. The winner of Sunday’s contest will host the PFC semifinal between those two squads. If the contest ends in a tie, the Thunder will host the PFC semifinal encounter with the Colts.
In the CJFL’s Top 10 Power Rankings released on Thursday, the Hilltops were rated first, the Thunder were ranked fourth and the Colts came in at seventh.
The Edmonton Wildcats and Winnipeg Rifles will close their overall 2024 campaigns both sporting 1-6 records in their head-to-head meeting on Sunday. The Wildcats will host the Rifles at 1 p.m. local time at Emerald Hills Regional Park in Sherwood Park, Alta.
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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