Sunday’s Prairie Football Conference Final wasn’t for the faint of heart.
The defending PFC champion Regina Thunder hosted their provincial rivals, the Saskatoon Hilltops, for a third season meeting. In Week 5, the Hilltops scored an 18-15 win over the Thunder at Mosaic Stadium, while the Thunder beat the Hilltops 24-21 in Saskatoon in Week 8.
In the final, the Regina Thunder capitalized on some unforced Saskatoon errors in the first half and jumped out to a 19-8 lead at halftime. In the third quarter, the Hilltops could only score a single point with the wind at their backs, giving Regina the 19-9 advantage entering the fourth quarter.
Regina added five points in the final quarter with a conceded Safety and a field goal to extend their lead to 24-9. Saskatoon would not go away quietly, though, scoring a touchdown at the midpoint of the quarter and then with 31 seconds left, the Hilltops would score another major and add a two-point convert to tie the game 24-24.
The Thunder weren’t done there, though, as they moved the ball into Saskatoon territory and, with no time left on the clock, Thunder kicker Shawn Green attempted a 51-yard field goal to win the game. However, the ball would bounce off the crossbar and out. Green was given a reprieve as Saskatoon was flagged for hitting the long-snapper, resulting in a second opportunity to win the game from 36 yards out. The second attempt would sail wide to the right. Saskatoon was able to field the kick, run it out of the end zone and force overtime.
Regina was held to a field goal in the opening possession of extra time, 27-24 Thunder.
Saskatoon then moved the ball to Regina's 24-yard line, which set up a pass from Griffin Sander to Isaiah Vallderrutten, who won the game and the PFC Championship for the Hilltops by a final score of 30-27.
Hilltops Head Coach Tom Sargeant was proud of his team for getting the job done.
“Always got to believe we certainly weren't the best team for the first 50 minutes, but the heart of a champion finds a way. These kids did. Coaches did a real good job at the end, ticked off at them at the beginning, but they did a good job at the end and made some good calls, and players got to make plays, and they made plays.”
Sargeant has been the head coach of the Hilltops for 28 years and liked how his team stuck to the game plan in the face of adversity.
“Welcome to life. That's what I said. These are life lessons, and you have to keep battling, keep believing, and, you know, keep trusting. And the coaches certainly did a good job of staying in the moment. And as I said, I would put the ball on some players to get out there and make some plays. And they did that.”
Sargeant admits he had to deliver some tough love to the team after a subpar start to the game.
“Sure. Yeah, absolutely. For the first 50 minutes, halftime, I wasn't very kind to him either. But at the end of the day, life's about response. What are you going to do about it? And we didn't play great in the third quarter either. But you know what? They dug deep, and they stayed together, and they battled. That's all we expect.”
Thunder Head Coach Scott MacAulay felt his team played a solid opening 45 minutes.
“I thought we did everything in our game plan. We did a great job containing 10 (Hilltops RB David Collins) and all kinds of stuff throughout the game. And, unfortunately, you can't put the game in other people's hands, right?”
MacAulay has been coaching in the Queen City for more than two decades and didn’t feel that momentum had shifted in the game until the final play.
“Not really. You know, the P.I. in the end zone, that one, that hurts. You know, if that's actually there. But it is what it is.”
MacAulay shared an emotional message with his team after the loss.
“I told them how proud of them I was. We still had a good season, and we still accomplished a lot of things that we wanted to accomplish. So start with some positives and get some things to think about. There's a lot of positive.”
In his twelfth season as head coach of the Thunder, MacAulay was not blaming his kicker, Shawn Green, for the upset.
“Shawn Green won us a lot of games. First, he had two kicks before those that were bang on and put us in the situation where we had an opportunity to win the game.”
MacAulay was named the PFC’s coach of the year and felt proud of his fifth-year players graduating from the program.
“You want your fifth years to go out with the win or at least something in the ring and stuff. But, you know, the guys who are graduating. They will have opportunities to play sports and carry on their careers somewhere else.”
Vallderruten, in his final year of eligibility with the Hilltops, credited his teammates with not giving up when facing adversity late in the game.
Oh, it was a game. We were down, we were down big. But at halftime, all the fifth years were talking. We said, This cannot be our final game. We got to come to practice on Tuesday. No way we could lose this game. So everybody was locked in and loaded after the half.”
Valderruten, a native of Elizabeth, New Jersey, played both safety and receiver for the Hilltops this season and says the team’s will on the final drive of regulation wasn’t going to be denied.
“The final drive to tie it up. We've been here before, especially with Regina, and we did it. In the first game we played them, we drove the field, scored at the last minute, and won. In the second game, we almost did it. But we threw a pick and lost this game. We had to win. It was no ifs, ands, or buts. We had to.”
The 22-year-old admits the joy of his two-point convert tying reception was short-lived when Regina had two chances to kick a game-winning field goal.
“I ain't gonna lie, I was kind of nervous, but I'm glad he missed.”
On the game's final play, Valderruten admits it didn’t work like they thought it would when the call came in from the sidelines.
“We knew they would probably be in man, but they actually went zone. I guess they thought I was going to run a corner. So, I faked the corner and went post, and it was wide open. QB threw a perfect ball to me, and we scored and won the game.”
The victory gives the Hilltops franchise its 35th PFC Championship and earns them a spot in the Canadian Bowl national championship, where they will host the Okanagan Sun on November 9th. Sargeant says his team is looking forward to that challenge.
“We've done pretty well. Once I take this blue and gold uniform on the national stage, they traditionally do really well. That's a credit to the PFC and certainly a credit to Regina. Boy, oh, boy, that's an outstanding football team right there. And you know what? We just kept battling, kept believing, and we'll take it.”
And that’s the Junior Football Report. I’m Dave Thomas.
