Thunder struck the turf at SMF Field in Saskatoon on Sunday afternoon, as the Regina Thunder are once again kings of the Prairie Football Conference.
By a 24-19 final, the Thunder stunned the defending national champion Saskatoon Hilltops on their own field to capture their second conference title in three years.
“There’s a lot of work that went into this,” said Thunder running back Sadik Sadik. “A lot of ups and downs. At the end of the day, we came out here and did what we had to do, we came out with the win.”
The Thunder dominated the run game on Sunday with Sadik and Ryland Leichert combining to carve up the Hilltops defence — a defence which Saskatoon leaned on to go undefeated at 9-0 until Sunday’s title game.
According to Regina head coach Scott MacAulay, the team showed much more confidence and execution compared to their two previous losses to the Hilltops this season.
“The boys just rallied together and believed they could get it done,” said MacAulay. “We felt like the first two times we played against them, we didn’t show up or were more in our own heads. So we just had to get them out of their own heads, get them cheering for each other instead, bring that energy and it fixed itself.”
For the Hilltops it’s the end of the line with fifth-year players like conference MVP Trey Reider seeing their junior careers end without a shot at defending their 2023 Canadian Bowl title.
“It’s just tough to say that I’m done with the Hilltops and I’m done with football,” said Reider. “At the end of the day we just didn’t capitalize on a time that we needed to capitalize. I missed Datiel [Fountaine] at the start of the game. At the end of the day, you just got to put it on yourself and wear that.”
Along with Reider, Saskatoon’s graduating fifth-years include defensive backs Justin Adamko and Isaac Rivalin, linebackers Noah Gedir and Andy Scrivens, offensive linemen Erik Barsness, Jeremy Funk and Cody Shumanski, as well as star receiver Drake Douglas.
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Suffering their first loss since Oct. 30, 2022, which also came in the PFC final, the Hilltops saw a streak of 21 consecutive wins over two seasons come to an end.
While Saskatoon’s season is over, Regina’s will continue as they inch one step closer to the program’s second national championship.
“Coming out here, I told the boys I don’t want to end my season here in Saskatoon,” said Sadik. “Honestly, it 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.”
The Thunder will advance to the Canadian Junior Football League national semi-final game, which they will host on Oct. 27 against the BCFC’s Okanagan Sun.
