Thunder stampede their way to PFC championship

Hilltops downplay no flag on head hit to Reider

The Thunder celebrate their PFC championship win.

The Regina Thunder continued to be their version of Bronko Nagurski and the Chicago Bears of the 1930s NFL.

On Sunday playing before 1,826 spectators at Saskatoon Minor Football Field, the Thunder stampeded their way to a 24-19 victory in the CJFL’s Prairie Football Conference final over their provincial rivals the Saskatoon Hilltops, who entered the contest as the defending CJFL champions.

The Thunder starting offensive line of left tackle Nolan Finn, left guard Caleb Barajas, centre Max McFadden, right guard Tristen Rapchalk and right tackle Eric Boyd hammered the Hilltops defence allowing the Regina side to pile up 321 yards rushing as a team on 49 carries for an average of 6.6 yards per rush attempt.

The Thunder O-line help their team rush for 321 yards.

Thunder star running back Sadik Sadik led Regina with 28 carries for 178 yards and two touchdowns. Regina’s other star running back in Ryland Leichert also had a big day carrying the ball 20 times for 118 yards.

Before facing the Hilltops, the Thunder piled up 751 yards rushing in their two previous outings that included a regular season 40-21 victory over the Calgary Colts and a 64-7 PFC semifinal win over the Colts.

Sadik is playing out his final season of CJFL eligibility as he is 22-years-old. He was pumped his club could win the PFC title after falling in last year’s PFC final 21-13 to the Hilltops in Saskatoon.

Sadik Sadik ran the ball 28 times for 178 yards and two TDs.

“Coming out here, I told the boys I don’t’ want to end my season here in Saskatoon,” said Sadik. “This honestly couldn’t have been drawn up any better playing Saskatoon at their home.

“Coming out here dominating and making this place our territory, we own this place. It is really what it is.”

Despite the physicality of the Thunder, the Hilltops almost snatched victory from the jaws of defeat taking the ball on one last offensive series from their own 15 yard line with 61 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter and no timeouts at their disposal. After getting across midfield, the Hilltops went into their bag of tricks for a gadget play that resulted in the most controversial moment of the contest.

On what would ultimately be the second last play of the contest, the Hilltops ran their version of the “Philly Special.” Star fifth-year quarterback Trey Reider, who was named the MVP of the PFC for the 2024 campaign, passed the ball laterally in the right flat to star power running back Corbin Ebben.

Trey Reider charges downfield for the Hilltops.

Ebben took a couple of steps and fired a lateral pass back across the field to Reider. Reider took off down the left sideline before encountering Thunder star middle linebacker Stephen Smith at the Thunder 22 yard line. Smith made a head first driving tackle striking the crown of his helmet into the head of Reider dropping the signal caller to the turf.

The Hilltops bench was immediately calling for a major foul penalty for the obvious and visible helmet-to-helmet hit that has been banned in tackle football for some time now, but the officials didn’t throw a flag on the head shot. As a result, the Hilltops had basically one play to throw the ball into the end zone from the Thunder 22 yard line with 6.1 seconds remaining on the clock. Since Reider went down in bounds, the clock starts when the officials blow the play in.

A Hilltops final pass to the end zone in knocked incomplete.

Had a major foul penalty been called, the Hilltops would have been scrimmaging first and goal from the Thunder seven yard line, and the clock would not start until the ball was snapped. Saskatoon could have conceivably run two more offensive plays in that scenario.

Instead, Reider made a Hail Mary jump ball pass to star fifth-year receiver Drake Douglas about five yards deep in the end zone along the right sideline. Thunder safety Adam King knocked down the final toss to preserve the victory for his side.

Reider put the Hilltops offence on his back finishing the day completing 23-of-41 passes for 305 yards and one touchdown, while throwing one interception. He also topped the Hilltops with 102 yards rushing on nine carries.

The Hilltops react to losing in the PFC final.

At end of the contest, Reider didn’t have anything bad to say about the officials or what happened on the play when he was hit helmet to helmet.

“At the end of the day, you can try to blame the refs, but I just put this on myself,” said Reider, who finished his career with the Hilltops with a 25-2 record as their started quarterback. “You can’t really blame anyone.

“I could have made him miss maybe. That is just on me. I’m not going to put anything on the refs or anyone else.

The Thunder raise the PFC championship trophy.

“I am going to put it on myself.”

Legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant was diplomatic when asked about the head shot Reider took.

“That is a variable we don’t control,” said Sargeant. “At the end of the day, referees are working hard doing their job.

“I have a lot of respect for what they do. Being in these big games and at the end of the day, their job is to make sure our players are protected. If they felt that was the case, then we got to agree with what was in front of us.”

Ryland Leichert (#32) ran the ball 20 times for 118 yards.

Overall, Sargeant said his storied club didn’t perform at a level that was needed to pull out a victory.

“We didn’t play well enough to win,” said Sargeant. “At the end of the day, full credit goes to the Regina Thunder.

“They battled, and they competed for sixty minutes. I’m proud of my kids, you know what? At the end of the first half, they took it to us.

“We responded, regrouped, and you know, just didn’t make the right plays at the right time. As I said, it just wasn’t enough. We kept on fighting, scratching and clawing to the end, but it wasn’t good enough today.”

The Thunder opened the contest with an impressive first series that ended with starting quarterback Ethan Hugg hitting receiver Zak Woidyla for a 10-yard touchdown pass to put the visitors up 7-0.

Drake Douglas caught seven passes for 121 yards.

Before the first quarter ended, the Hilltops got on the scoreboard with a 22-yard field goal from kicker Teijon Abel-Douglas to trim the Thunder lead to 7-3.

At the 3:29 mark of the second quarter, Thunder kicker Shawn Green hit a 26 yard field goal to give his squad a 10-3 lead at halftime.

The Thunder pushed their lead out to 17-3 with a four-yard rushing major by Sadik at the 5:51 mark of the frame. With 2:18 remaining in the third, Green had to concede a safety due to bad field position to make the Thunder lead stand at 17-5.

On the ensuing offensive series, the Hilltops quickly drove downfield. With 59.4 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Ebben ran home a major from 14 yards out to cut the Thunder advantage to 17-12.

Corbin Ebben (#34) scored a pair of touchdowns for the Hilltops.

Early in the fourth quarter, disaster struck the Hilltops on special teams. Douglas muffed a punt return deep in his own end, and defensive back Owen Effa recovered the ball for the Thunder. Zadik proceeded to score on a two-yard run at the 3:20 mark of the fourth quarter to give the Thunder a 24-12 advantage.

With 4:20 remaining in the fourth quarter, Reider hit Ebben with a 14-yard touchdown pass to trim the Thunder lead to 24-19. That set the stage for the dramatics at the end of the game.

Coming into Sunday’s contest, the Thunder had lost five straight overall to the Hilltops, who finished the 2024 campaign with a 9-1 overall mark. The Hilltops had also won 21 straight games overall. Sadik was overjoyed his squad beat the Hilltops to capture the PFC title in his final CJFL season.

Trey Reider (#3) completed 23-of-41 passes for 305 yards.

“It means a lot,” said Sadik. “There is a lot of work that went into this you know what I mean?

“(There were) a lot of ups and downs. At the end of the day, we came out here, and we did what we had to do and we came out with the win.”

The Thunder, who improved to 8-2 overall, have now won their last three straight overall. Their last loss came on September 28, when they were thumped 36-11 by the Hilltops at SMF Field.

Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay was pumped his team rebounded from that drubbing to ultimately claim the PFC title.

“It feels fantastic,” said MacAulay. “It wasn’t an easy season.

Zak Woidyla makes a 10-yard touchdown catch for the Thunder.

“We had to do a lot of changes. I think the turning point was the last time we played against the Hilltops. We had to go back and take a look at what our assets were on our team and make sure we tried to use them a little bit more and put the ball in the boys’ hands and let them do the job.”

MacAulay said the players and coaches on his club concluded their strengths on offence were their offensive line and their talented veteran running backs. Since pushing all the chips in on the running game, the Thunder have been riding high.

“Our guys worked out hard during the off-season,” said MacAulay. “They’re physically fit, and this is what they wanted.

Stephen Smith had seven total tackles for the Thunder.

“The players were the one stepping up and saying that they wanted to run the rock and were holding the coaches accountable. It was a great couple of weeks.”

Douglas led the Hilltops with 121 yards receiving on seven catches. Ebben finished with 52 yards rushing on 13 carries to go with his major score on the ground. He caught 10 passes for 114 yards.

“We worked pretty hard, and this is not the outcome we wanted at the end of the day,” said Reider. “There is not really a lot to say right now.”

Hugg completed 7-of-9 passes for 53 yards and one touchdown. Former Thunder starter Carter Moberg saw spot action completing 1-of-2 passes for 11 yards.

Kai Kukurudza (#73) shows he made a fumble recovery.

Defensive back Nathan Young led the Hilltops with nine total tackles and one pass knockdown. Hilltops defensive end Kai Kukurudza and defensive tackle Ryan Adamko each had one fumble recovery.

Thunder cornerback Tristan Bergquist led his squad with seven solo defensive tackles and three pass knockdowns. Smith record five solo defensive tackles and four defensive tackle assists for the Thunder.

Middle linebacker Mitchell Tanchak had an interception for Regina.

Sargeant said he was going to be realistic with his final address with the club.

“(I will tell them) just how much I love them and how far we grew as a team,” said Sargeant. “At the end of the day when you’re a Hilltop, the expectations are always high.

Ethan Hugg completed 7-of-9 passes for 53 yards and one TD.

“No one is going to feel sorry for the blue and gold. It is the reality. We played well, but we didn’t play well enough to win. We’ve got to live with that, and we’ve got to deal with that.

“At the end of the day, we’ll move on. That is life. You move on.”

The Thunder will move on to host a CJFL semifinal this coming Sunday against the BCFC champions Okanagan Sun (12-0) at 1 p.m. at Leibel Field in Regina. When the Thunder last won the PFC title in 2022, they fell to the Sun 21-19 in the CJFL title game – the Canadian Bowl – at Mosaic Stadium in Regina.

MacAulay is giving his squad the chance to soak in the PFC final victory first before the Thunder turn their attention to the Sun.

Thunder members enjoy the PFC championship trophy.

“We’re going to celebrate tonight,” said MacAulay. “Winning in the PFC, there are six great teams.

“I think you’ve got to relish in the moment and worry about the Sun come tomorrow. We’re definitely excited to be moving on and have that opportunity.”

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