Clark’s drive paved way to starting spot on Hilltops O-line

Left guard first took up tackle football in Grade 11

Simon Clark (#51) has become a mainstay on the Hilltops O-line.

For Simon Clark, it didn’t matter how late you took up the game just as long as you finally gave it a try.

These days Clark is the starting left guard on the offensive line for the CJFL’s storied Saskatoon Hilltops. When he started his high school studies at Walter Murray Collegiate, Clark had yet to play the tackle version of the sport and did play flag football a little bit growing up.

He was hoping to join Walter Murray’s Marauders Football team in his Grade 10 year, but that was in the fall of 2020 and high school extracurricular activities were halted due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Clark wasn’t going to pass up the chance to join the Marauders in his Grade 11 year, and he found out that playing tackle football was even better than he imagined it would be.

“I’d always seen football as a sport that it has got that intensity that really kind of builds a passion within you,” said Clark. “People get really connected to the sport.

“You always hear people talk about there is one thing I wish I could do one more time it would just be to get those pads on and play again. I kind of wanted to experience some of that for myself, and going through Walter Murray and then especially coming here, it is just kind of feeling the team culture, feeling the camaraderie with all the guys, that isn’t really something that I feel like you can get somewhere else. I’ve always been just like really invested in that kind of team aspect of it kind of getting to know the guys, wanting to play for each other, fight for each other and that sort of thing.

“It is a really special thing.”

Clark soaked every part of his two seasons playing for the Marauders. As a Grade 11 rookie, he built what turned out to be a good friendship with one of the team’s veteran Grade 12 offensive lineman in Davin Johnson. The two are now in their fourth season playing together for the Hilltops as Johnson is the team’s fifth-year star left tackle.

During Clark’s start in tackle football in his Grade 11 year, Clark credited Johnson with being a big person in helping him out and introducing him to all aspects of the sport. Clark recalled that all his teammates enjoyed being part of the Marauders. 

When his Grade 12 season came to a close, Clark felt like he built an experience with tackle football he would forever cherish going into the rest of his life not knowing a door was going to open for him to continue in the sport.

One day while Clark was in English class after his Grade 12 season with the Marauders concluded, the school’s principal and legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant dropped in for a visit. Clark was well aware of Sargeant’s history with the Hilltops, but football wasn’t crossing the mind of the Walter Murray senior student.

At that point in time, Clark didn’t have a lot of interactions with Sargeant and was seeing him in his principal’s role. Clark thought he might have been in trouble for something. He couldn’t figure out what that might be, because he focused on trying his best to be a good person at Walter Murray.

Simon Clark is in his second season starting at left guard.

“If you kind of saw him (Sargeant) in the hallway and he was calling for you, that usually meant a bad thing,” said Clark, who stands 6-foot-1 and 280 pounds. “He came and knocked on my door while I was in the middle of class and said, “Come out here. I want to talk to you.”

“He said he had been watching me in the high school football scene, and he kind of offered me a chance to come tryout and get to know the guys. It was pretty exciting to kind of be kind of plucked by him, because he has always been such a legend in so many different ways. To kind of get selected like that was pretty cool.”

In Clark, Sargeant saw a lot of great intangibles that might potentially make him a good player for the Hilltops one day despite his late start in the sport. 

The sideline boss liked what he saw from the young offensive lineman on game days with the Marauders.

“The reality is when you’re the principal of the school I went to all of our games, because, obviously, I’m a supporter and want the Marauders to perform and play well,” said Sargeant. “I got to see all their games.

“I knew Simon (Clark) was a player that I wanted in this program. What I didn’t know at the time was just how bad he wants it and how hard he worked. He has had some outstanding off-seasons.

“He is one of the strongest players on our team, and he has certainly walked right in and he’s been a two-year starter. For us to do great things at the end, we’re going to need him to finish off a great season with his own performance.”

With the Hilltops, Clark improved rapidly where he saw time as a situational tight end with the offence in 2024 during his second season with the team. He became a starter at left-guard at the start of last season.

“His growth has been unbelievable,” said Sargeant. “He was always a first class individual at our school.

“He was a great role model for the younger grades the Grade 9s, 10s and 11s when he was a Grade 12. He loved the game of football. I remember when I was recruiting him, and when his high school season ended, he really dedicated himself to getting bigger and stronger.

“He put in a lot of time and energy into developing his game for the first couple of years through (offensive line) coach (Donnie) Davidson. It was just a lot of growth, a lot of work, a lot of development, and then, boom, he walked in last year as a starter and became a heck of a football player. Now, it is at the next level, and as a fourth-year player, we certainly got big expectations.”

Simon Clark (#51) enjoys playing alongside Davin Johnson (#71).

While getting to play for the Hilltops has been a highlight for Clark, he said the thing he cherishes the most in his playing career is how much support he has received from his father, Charlie, after taking up the sport. From October 31, 2016 to November 20, 2024, Charlie was the mayor of Saskatoon. He was serving as mayor during Simon’s entire high school career with the Marauders and his first two seasons with the Hilltops.

Simon was well aware of how hyper busy his father’s schedule was. No matter how busy things got, Charlie always made it to all of Simon’s games first with the Marauders and now with the Hilltops. During Simon’s career with the Hilltops, Charlie has become an ace 50/50 seller for Hilltops home games.

“He (Charlie) would just be so exhausted, but then he’d still come home and make sure that we had what we need and make sure we felt a lot of love,” said Simon. “That same thing even when he was the mayor in 2023-2024, he was in these super busy times, but yet he’d come out and he’d make sure to take the time to support us.

“I think seeing that is a lot of inspiration too, because he worked so hard and yet he also made sure that he was out there to support us always. He was making sure that we felt his presence all the time. It was amazing, because I think he would probably spend 12 hours in a day working, and then it felt like he was spending the other 12 making sure that we had kind of what we needed.

“I wouldn’t be at all where I am without him and without his support, so it means the world for me for sure. He has been a great role model.”

Clark said it was special to be a rookie on the Hilltops 2023 CJFL championship team that went 12-0. He said it was a bigger highlight to win the CJFL title last season, where the Hilltops went 9-2 overall.

The 2025 campaign started with a convincing road loss to the Rifles in Winnipeg and included a home loss to the Hilltops’s provincial rivals in the Regina Thunder. Clark was proud of how the team last year rallied together and battled through adversity to win the 24^th CJFL title in the club’s history.

Looking toward the near future, Clark still has the rest of this season and all of next season to play for the Hilltops before exhausting his CJFL eligibility. He plans to embrace all the moments and all the ups and downs that are still to come.

“It is tough, because it goes by fast,” said Clark. “When you’re in a culture like this, you just want to cherish every single moment of it.

“It kind of sometimes can feel like you’re taking it for granted, because the practices can get tough. You face adversity. At the end of the day, it is just such a blessing to be able to come out and do this and to meet all these great people who become really like brothers to you and to be able to commit this time and really see results out of it and build this team culture and work so hard.

Simon Clark (#51) said playing for the Hilltops is a blessing.

“At the end of the day, I think it is worth it a million times over to go through all that we go through, because you are going to have these relationships for the rest of your life. It is really such a blessing and a privilege.”

This piece first appeared in the Saskatoon Hilltops game program on September 26, 2026.