 |
| Drake Douglas has made lots of dynamic plays for the Hilltops. |
The Saskatoon Hilltops will never be confused with the NFL’s
Dallas Cowboys.
The Hilltops, who are the CJFL’s most storied team, pride
themselves on being workmanlike and humble. Players that have overflowing
amounts of talent don’t draw attention to themselves, and they work on being
great persons off the field.
The late Chase Bradshaw goes down as one of the biggest
examples of this image. He was a Hilltops quarterback from 2007 to 2011. He was
a backup on the Hilltops 2007 CJFL championship winning club and the star
starter on the 2010 and 2011 CJFL championship winners.
He was the athlete who had the rocket arm and could get out
of trouble with his legs thanks to his agility and blazing speed. You would be
hard pressed to get Bradshaw to talk about himself, but when you saw his work
on the field, his talent was undeniable.
Star players with the NFL’s Cowboys are often viewed as
showman types that like the spotlight, and they will bombard you with talking
about how great they are. Pro Football Hall of Fame receivers Michael Irvin and
Drew Pearson exemplify the image of the classic Cowboys players.
The Hilltops do not like to do the showman thing, so this
next line might get uncomfortable.
Drake Douglas is worth the price of admission of any game he
plays in.
The graduate of Regina’s Balfour Collegiate Bears Football
Team, has been that good and that entertaining to watch.
Douglas and the Hilltops (4-0) are set to finally play at
home again on Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Winnipeg Rifles (0-4) at Saskatoon
Minor Football Field. The last time the Hilltops played at home was for their
regular season opener way back on August 11, when they downed the Edmonton
Huskies 38-13 at SMF Field.
Douglas has had a blazing start to his final CJFL campaign. The
22-year-old star receiver leads the Prairie Football Conference in pass
receptions (27), receiving yard (504) and receiving touchdowns (five). He also
leads the PFC in punt return yards at 268 and is tied for punt return attempts
at 24.
On the receiving side, Douglas, who stands 5-foot-9 and
weighs 185 pounds, is on pace that he could possibly surpass the 1,000-yard
receiving plateau in the regular season. No Hilltops player has ever hit 1,000
yards receiving in one regular season and that feat has happened less than 20
times in the history of the CJFL.
Slater Zaleski, who played for the Edmonton Huskies, holds
the PFC record for receiving yards in one regular season with 1,064 yards
coming back in 1987 in an eight-game regular season.
 |
| Drake Douglas has 504 yards receiving in four games in 2024. |
Michael Schaper, who
played for the Vancouver Island Raiders, holds the CJFL record with 1,179
receiving yards in one regular season coming in a 10-game regular season played
by the British Columbia Football Conference in 2010.
The CJFL’s career regular season record for receiving yards
is held by Hilltops all-time great Andrew Busby, who piled up 3,109 receiving
yards from 2004 to 2008. Busby holds the Hilltops record for most receiving
yards in one season when he caught 73 passes for 974 yards and nine touchdowns
in 2006.
On Tuesday, Douglas was named the PFC’s offensive player of
the week for his efforts in the Hilltops 29-15 victory over the Thunder in
Regina on Saturday, Sept. 7.
In that contest, Douglas caught 10 passes for 185
yards and one touchdown. He also returned six punts for 39 yards for the
defensive CJFL champions, who are still rated first in the CJFL’s latest Top 10
Power Rankings.
On Thursday, the CJFL put together a graphic with Douglas
being the top receiver for the first half of the campaign.
To go along with his efforts as a receiver and punt
returner, Douglas is the Hilltops holder for field goal attempts on special
teams. Off a fake field goal, Douglas threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to power
running back Corbin Ebben in a 52-19 victory over the Colts in Calgary on
August 25.
The Hilltops will mix things up in their running game and
get the ball to Douglas on a jet sweep or other similar style running plays.
Douglas has been outstanding in all aspects of the game. As a
receiver, quarterbacks can throw to him when he is covered. If a pass in his
direction is off target, Douglas makes the one-handed stab catch to pull in the
reception.
When he was growing up, Douglas’s favourite receiver with
the CFL’s Saskatchewan Roughriders was Naaman Roosevelt, and Douglas certainly
mirrors Roosevelt’s consistency. On the excitement creating side, Douglas is
the Hilltops version of Roughriders legend Weston Dressler, who was formally
inducted to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame on Friday night.
Douglas is humble. When he settled in Saskatoon to be part
of the working world in 2002, his football career was revived when his highlight
packaged was emailed off by older brother Brayden to legendary Hilltops head coach
Tom Sargeant. Sargeant gave Drake a call and the rest is still becoming
history.
While Douglas has a shot to become the first Hilltops
receiver to hit 1,000 yards receiving in one regular season, that
accomplishment still possibly might not happen. The storied CJFL club is always
looking to the future, and the Hilltops usually empty their bench to get their
younger reserve players playing time.
 |
| Drake Douglas was named the PFC’s offensive player of the week. |
Jordan Walls, who was a Hilltops quarterback on their CJFL
championship teams from 2014 to 2018 including being the star starter in 2017
and 2018, often said the Hilltops are not about individual statistics. In Walls
final season in 2018, the Hilltops went 11-0 with the closest margin of victory
being 19 points.
In most games in that campaign, the starters were off the
field shortly after halftime due to the sizeable lead the Saskatoon side had.
If the Hilltops would have left their starters in for three quarters or three
and a half quarters, they could have potentially rocked a number of individual
CJFL records that year.
With that in mind, you can expect Douglas is going to make a
lot of special plays for the rest of 2024 campaign. If you don’t have a ticket
to a Hilltops game Douglas is playing in, you will be missing out.
Mowles gets player of the week nod
 |
| Jace Mowles was the PFC’s defensive player of the week. |
Saskatoon Hilltops cornerback Jace Mowles had his biggest
game of the year and it resulted in a CJFL weekly award.
On Tuesday, Mowles was named the PFC’s defensive player of
the week for his outstanding performance in the Hilltops 29-15 over the Thunder
in Regina on Saturday, September 7. In that contest, Mowles, who is in his
fourth year of CJFL eligibility, intercepted a pair passes and recorded three
solo defensive tackles, three defensive tackle assists and one pass knockdown.
On the season, Mowles, who is a graduate of Saskatoon’s
Walter Murray Collegiate Marauders Football Team, has recorded five solo
defensive tackles, four defensive tackle assists, three special teams solo
tackles, one special teams tackle assist, two interceptions and one pass
knockdown.
Sargeant records 240th win as
Hilltops head coach
.JPG) |
| Tom Sargeant has 240 career wins as Hilltops head coach. |
Legendary Saskatoon Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant keeps
collecting milestones as each season moves on.
When the Hilltops downed the Thunder in Regina 29-15 on Saturday,
September 7, Sargeant earned his 240 career victory as Hilltops head coach. Sargeant
became the Hilltops head coach in early December of 1997, and he has a 240-37-2
career record working the team’s sidelines.
His career record includes posting a 178-26-2 mark in the
regular season and a 62-11 mark in the post-season. Sergeant is the all-time
leader in career head coaching victories in Canada’s amateur post-secondary
ranks.
The Hilltops, who are the defending CJFL champions, have won
14 CJFL titles with Sargeant as head coach. Sargeant also helped the Hilltops
win two CJFL championships as an assistant coach and one CJFL title as a
player. He was a Hilltops assistant coach from 1991 to 1997 and a player from
1983 to 1985 and 1987 having spent the 1986 campaign with the University of
Saskatchewan Huskies Football Team.
Glen Constantin, who is the head coach of the ultra-powerful
Laval Rouge et Or in the U Sports ranks, is second all-time in career head coaching
victories in Canada’s amateur post-secondary ranks. Constantin picked up his
212th career victory on Saturday as the Rouge et Or thumped the host
McGill University Redbirds 45-12 at Percival Molson Stadium in Montreal,
Quebec. The Rouge et Or improved to 3-0 with the victory.
Constantin served as the Rouge et Or’s defensive coordinator
from the team’s inaugural campaign in 1996 to 2000 and has been the squad’s head
coach since 2001. As the team’s head coach, Constantin has posted a career
record of 212-38 which includes a 155-27 mark in the regular season and a 57-11
record in the U Sports post-season.
The Rouge et Or have won 10 of their 11 Vanier Cup titles as
U Sports champions with Constantin as head coach.
Frank McCrystal sits third in career head coaching victories
in Canada’s amateur post-secondary ranks at 208 serving as head coach of the Regina
Rams from 1984 to 2014. McCrystal piled up his win total during the Rams final
15 seasons in the CJFL from 1984 to 1998 and the Rams first 16 season in the U
Sports ranks as the University of Regina Rams from 1999 to 2014.
In the CJFL, McCrystal posted a 104-17-1 record in the
regular season and a 37-8 record in the post-season as Rams head coach. The
Rams won seven CJFL titles under McCrystal’s guidance.
In U Sports, McCrystal posted a 60-67-1 record in the
regular season and a 7-12 record in the post-season as Rams head coach. The
Rams made the U Sports title game – the Vanier Cup – once under McCrystal’s
watch falling 42-39 in the 2000 Vanier Cup to the U of Ottawa Gee Gees.
Combining his records from the CJFL and U Sports, McCrystal
posted a 208-104-2 mark as Rams head coach.
Clark to appear at End Zone Scholarship
Dinner, other notes
 |
| Dan Clark calls signals for the Roughriders in 2019. |
Dan Clark will be the special guest at the Annual Hilltops
End Zone Scholarship Dinner set for September 28.
Clark was a star centre for the CFL’s Saskatchewan
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 CJFL’s Regina Thunder.
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 historic Taylor Field on July 21, 2013.
Following that contest, Clark and the Roughriders would later win the Grey Cup
with a 45-23 victory over the Tigers-Cats on November 24, 2013 at Taylor Field.
In 2019, Clark was the unanimous selection as the
Saskatchewan Roughriders Most Outstanding Offensive Lineman. He was also named
a CFL all-star.
The Annual Hilltops End Zone Scholarship Dinner will be held
in the main hall of the Gordie Howe Sports Centre building located at the south
end of Saskatoon Minor Football Field. The doors for the dinner will open at
4:15 p.m. and dinner will be served at 5 p.m.
The presenting sponsors of the event are TCU Financial and
SaskTel. It is hosted in conjunction with the Hilltops community partners in
the Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation. The official beverage sponsor is the
Crossmount Cider Company.
All proceeds of the event go towards the Saskatoon Hilltop
Scholarship Fund.
Single tickets for the event are $100, and a table of eight
goes for $725. Ticket purchases include admission to that night’s CJFL regular
season contest between the Hilltops and the Regina Thunder set for 7 p.m. at
SMF Field. Tickets for the End Zone Dinner can be purchased by clicking right here.
- On Thursday, the CJFL put
up graphics for Hilltops star quarterback Trey Reider being the most
valuable player and the top quarterback for the first half of the PFC’s
regular season. A graphic was made for Regina Thunder running back Sadik
Sadik being the top rusher and for Winnipeg Rifles linebacker Kyler
Banfield for being the top defender.
- On Tuesday, Calgary Colts
kicker/punter Robert Lasebnik was named the PFC’s special teams player of
the week for his work in his team’s 36-30 victory over the host Edmonton
Wildcats at Emerald Hills Regional Park in Sherwood Park, Alta, last
Sunday. Lasebnik punted the ball nine times for an average of 40.7 yards
per punt and kicked the ball off six times for an average of 55.7 yards
per kick. He also hit five one-point converts for the Colts.
- On Monday, I had new
content appear on the Howe Happenings blog that supports the Gordie Howe
Sports Complex. I put together a feature on Aulain Penner, who is the star
running back of Saskatoon’s Holy Cross High School Crusaders Football
Team. Penner is one of Saskatoon’s most exciting high school players. That
piece can be found by clicking right here. I also put together a photo
roundup that is anchored by pictures from Softball Canada’s Men’s and
Master Men’s Canadian Fast Pitch Championship tournaments that were played
on the diamonds at the Complex. It also includes other photos from baseball,
football and softball. That post can be found by clicking right here.
If you have any
comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them
to stankssports@gmail.com.
-------
If you like what you
see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like
this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the
DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for
stopping in.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
