Rookie Elash morphs into all-star centre with Hilltops

Holy Cross High School grad relative newcomer to football

Matt Elash (#62) stands for the national anthem.

Matt Elash said his teammates on the Saskatoon Hilltops keep him humble, and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

The graduate of the Holy Cross High School Crusaders Football Team, who turned 18-years-old earlier this month, took over the role of starting centre for the CJFL’s storied Saskatoon Hilltops in just the third week of the regular season. With that development, Elash became one of the rare rookies to earn a starting spot on the club that has won 23 CJFL titles in its history.

Elash ended up excelling and earning nods as an all-star in the CJFL’s Prairie Football Conference, and he was also named to the conference’s all-rookie team. With the accolades that have come his way, Elash has had a few more media interviews come his way.

Through it all, Elash said he still receives some good natured jabs from his veteran teammates along the offensive line to keep him grounded.

“It is kind of a weird dynamic, because even though I’m the rookie, they still get to like razz me around,” said Elash. “Centre is still kind of a leadership position, and so it is like we have to be kind of on the same level, but I’m still like the rookie.”

Elash is also getting a full taste of rivalry action during his first year on the junior football circuit. On Sunday, his Hilltops (7-2 overall) will face their provincial rivals the Regina Thunder (9-0 overall) for the fifth straight year in the PFC final at 1 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium. In the previous four meetings, the Hilltops claimed the conference title in 2021 and 2023, while the Thunder took the conference championship in 2022 and 2024.

In the two regular season encounters split by the two clubs, Elash thought that the rivalry between the Hilltops and Thunder was like the one he experienced in high school between his Crusaders and the St. Joseph High School Guardians.

“I actually compare them a lot to St Joe’s, because they run a similar defence with like the 30-front with the D-linemen and lots of twists and blitzes,” said Elash. “It is very similar to the St. Joe’s defence.

“I find the Thunder somewhat similar to Joe’s.”

Matt Elash (#62) is the Hilltops rookie starting centre.

When it comes to the sport of football, Elash is still a relative newcomer. He is really only in about his fifth year playing the game taking up the sport when he started attending Holy Cross.

“I started in Grade nine,” said Elash, who stands 5-foot-11 and weighs 260 pounds. “I joined the junior team.

“It was my first time. My first coach was Noah Foster. He played Hilltops for a while.

“In high school, I started doing football and wrestling. I found it was really my thing. I was exceeding in it, and I just kind of stuck with it.”

Elash was actually a competitive swimmer all through his middle school years. During his high school years, Elash admitted he enjoyed the school spirit that surrounded the football team at Holy Cross and the attention was a fun benefit.

He credits his first head coach with the Crusaders senior team in Scott Hundseth for being his biggest influence in helping him along in the sport of football.

“He has played a big factor in that,” said Elash. “I also did the Institute of Saskatchewan Football.

“He was also a coach there. He is the one who recommended it to me, and he just played a big factor.”

Elash’s opportunity to become the starting centre came when fifth-year veteran Matt Noble elected to retire from playing the sport after the Hilltops second regular season contest due to shoulder injuries. When Noble’s injury troubles surfaced during action in the Hilltops first two regular season games, Elash was inserted into the centre spot.

Matt Elash (#62) sets out to make a block.

Legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said Elash quickly turned the heads of the team’s coaching staff, when he started training with the club.

“He was a top recruit for us,” said Sargeant. “He just kept doing his thing, working hard and got noticed by the coaches.

“Matt Noble, our other centre got hurt, and he (Elash) took advantage of his opportunities. Low and behold, he became a starter, and for him to finish off and cap the season as an all-star, that says just tremendous things about his dedication and work ethic towards the game of football.

“He is an outstanding player and a better person, and we’re sure excited that he is in our uniform.”

Sargeant chuckles at the notion of Elash being a “pup” on the Hilltops starting offensive line, which contains fourth-year left-tackle Davin Johnson, fifth-year right-tackle Victor Bikulo, third-year left guard Simon Clark and third-year right guard and PFC all-star Jack Erlandson.

“He is the young buck there for sure,” said Sargeant. “At the end of the day, he doesn’t play like it.

“Centre is a tough position. There is lots that comes his way, but he is a student of the game too. He is very passionate about the game of football.

“He puts a lot of time and energy into it, and as I said, he is a special person, special player, and he has really helped our run game to make it what it is this year.”

When it comes to playing the centre position, Sargeant said Elash does a number of things well.

Matt Elash was named a PFC all-star.

“Number one, his snaps are right on point, and that is always job number one,” said Sargeant. “Number two, once a snap is gone, he certainly fits into who he is supposed to block and does a great job of keeping his eyes, his feet all together and all in one package.

“He does a good job of moving people. As I said, it is fun to see, and any time you put on the game film, he is certainly passing with flying colours with his performance.”

Elash was expected to get the chance to be the Hilltops starter until his second or third year with the team. When Noble decided to retire as a player and Elash became the starting centre, the young offensive lineman was shocked when that all came about.

“It was a big opportunity for me,” said Elash. “I was excited and also very nervous, because in the games, he (Noble) would go in and then he’d get hurt, and then I’d have to go in.

“It wasn’t like being completely thrown into the fire, but it was still pretty shocking.”

Elash is looking forward to having a long career with the Hilltops, and he wants to keep continually improving. 

In the present, he just wants to win the PFC final to get to the CJFL championship game – the Canadian Bowl. The winner of the PFC final clash between the Hilltops and Thunder will host the CJFL title match on November 9.

“I’m nervous for my fifth years, because I still want them to play another game,” said Elash. “I’m nervous for the fifth years, because I want to win.

Matt Elash, with ball, is looking towards a long career with the Hilltops.

“I want them to play another game.”

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Sophomore Johnson becomes cornerstone of Hilltops O-line

Left tackle works like he still needs to earn spot

Davin Johnson (#71) sets up a block for an outside run play.

The Saskatoon Hilltops blindside protector on the offensive line doesn’t believe he has done enough to earn any extra attention.

When Davin Johnson was approached about doing an interview for a feature story on himself, he gave the “who me” look.

The 19-year-old Hilltops sophomore then said he hadn’t done anything special. The words downplayed the fact he became a starter at right tackle last season in the team’s sixth game. Playing alongside four other starters in their respective final campaigns of CJFL eligibility, Johnson held the right tackle starting spot for the rest of the season and won the Hilltops team award for rookie of the year.

This season, Johnson is the starter at left tackle on a Hilltops offensive line that had to be revamped due to graduations that occurred at the end of the 2022 campaign. Along with Johnson, right guard Victoire Bikulo is the only other current player that had previous experience starting experience with the Hilltops offensive line entering 2023.

The work of Johnson, Bikulo, left guard Erik Barsness, centre Matt Noble and right tackle Cody Shumanski have allowed the Hilltops to get out to a 3-0 start. With all the teams in the CJFL’s Prairie Football Conference having a bye this weekend, the Hilltops get back at it on Saturday, September 9 when they travel to Regina to face the 3-0 Thunder (7 p.m., Mosaic Stadium) in a heavyweight tilt.

Johnson said one of the things he likes most about playing offensive line is it seems the guys in that position always seem to form their own brotherhood. He believes that has helped the Hilltops offensive line in the early part of the campaign.

“We’re so close, because we need to be so close to have a perfect play,” said Johnson. “We’re very close with all of our guys, and it is great to be close with everybody.”

Still, the graduate of Walter Murray Collegiate Marauders football still gets surprised when any individual accolades or attention comes his way. Being named the rookie of the year for the Hilltops last season was something Johnson was not expecting.

Davin Johnson, right, has started at left tackle this season.

“I was a bit surprised, because (running back) Charles (Sawi) was the rookie of the year for the CJFL,” said Johnson, who stands 6-foot-2 and weighs 275 pounds. “I didn’t expect it.

“I thought Charles might have got it. I guess ‘Sarge’ liked what he saw. I guess that I improved.

“I was just surprised.”

Johnson grew up playing hockey for most of his years in his youth growing up. From those hockey roots, he is still closely follows the exploits of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades.

He took up football playing in Saskatoon Minor Football’s North Sask Academy in Grade 8 after being encouraged to try the sport by one of his junior high teachers in Dan Houle, who is a running backs coach with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies Football team in the U Sports ranks.

At Walter Murray Collegiate, Johnson learned more about playing his position from Marauders offensive line coach Jack Sloboda. Sloboda was the starting right guard on the Hilltops 2016 CJFL championship team and starting left guard on their 2017 CJFL title winner.

During his high school years, Johnson also caught the attention of legendary Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant, who is also the principal at Walter Murray.

“He (Sargeant) had a bit of an early read,” said Johnson. “I remember he pulled me out of a class to come talk to me about football.

“My O-line coach (Sloboda) was also a Hilltop. He really recommended to come to this program with how well all the coaching is. That is what led me here.”

As an 18-year-old rookie last season, Johnson said it was an eye-opener, when he first started to train with the Hilltops. He remembers that he got pushed around quite a bit early in training camp in 2022.

Davin Johnson claimed the Hilltops team rookie of the year award in 2022.

With that experience, Johnson got acclimatized to the CJFL game quickly. He made his first start with the Hilltops in a 35-17 win over the Colts in Calgary on September 25, 2022.

“I was just a little bit more confident with myself,” said Johnson. “It was still not to what I needed to be, but I just got a little bit more confident and just kind of got thrown in that Calgary game.

“I played good enough where ‘Sarge’ didn’t notice me, and then he had confidence in me from then on.”

Johnson said the starting players on the offensive line who were in their final campaigns of CJFL eligibility in 2022 in centre Luciano Jolly, left tackle Jayson Kehler, left guard Jordan Bisson and right guard Ethan Paslowski were huge in helping him out.

“All the fifth years were amazing, because they would coach me up,” said Johnson. “It was like we had five or six different coaches on the field.

“They’d always have their little tips that they would give to help you get better.”

With the graduations of Jolly, Kehler, Bisson and Paslowski, Johnson said things were challenging on the Hilltops offensive line heading into the 2023 campaign.

“The winter practices were a little rough,” said Johnson. “We had guys getting through.

Davin Johnson (#71) and a revamped O-line helped get the Hilltops to 3-0.

“Even into camp, we had guys getting through. We had linebackers that we didn’t pick up. We’ve gotten better.

“As we’ve started to come together we are definitely looking pretty good now. We were a little worried at the start.”

Johnson welcomed being moved from right tackle to left tackle heading into the 2023 season. He played left tackle all through his North Sask Academy and high school days, so he has a lot of comfort taking up that spot on the offensive line.

On top of being comfortable at left tackle, Johnson has found that the Hilltops have done a little better job of focusing in on the present this year compared to last year. He believes that his likely due to the fact a little more time has passed since the Hilltops last won the CJFL title back in 2019 on top of the fact the team is more youthful than it has been in the past.

“This year we are definitely more focused on getting better every day knowing that we have to work harder to try and get to that national championship spot,” said Johnson. “Last year, we kind of had the idea that we were already going to be there.

“In our winter practices, ‘Sarge’ would say he thought of us as like we could be a national championship team. Whereas this year it was you guys aren’t good enough. We are going to work harder and maybe we can get to that national championship.

“It is just more focusing on the everyday trying to get better and just see how far we can go with it.”

Looking forward to the rest of the 2023 campaign, Johnson has more modest outlooks.

Davin Johnson and the Hilltops are truly focused on the present.

“I hope that we become one of the best blocking O-lines in the league,” said Johnson. “I hope we can all work together really well and have fun.”

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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