The Regina Thunder and their potent offence haven’t had to lean on kicker Harry Case all that often to find the win column this season, but when they needed him on Saturday night in Saskatoon, he was most certainly there.
Case went 6-for-8 on field goals to account for all of Regina’s points as they took a 19-6 victory over the Saskatoon Hilltops in Prairie Football Conference action.
Regina improves to 7-0 on the campaign and have locked down a playoff spot and home field advantage in the playoffs, Saskatoon falls to 4-3 and are alone in second place pending the outcome of the Edmonton Wildcats game on Sunday.
After the two teams had a couple of quick two-and-outs to start the game, the Huskies put together the first sustained drive of the night on their next series, starting back on their own 30 and getting up to the Regina 32.
That set up a 40-yard field goal attempt for Ryden Gratton, and he’d split the uprights for a 3-0 Hilltops lead with 6:33 to play in the opening quarter.
Saskatoon got things rolling again on their next drive, starting from midfield and using a pass interference call on a deep ball to Jack Boechler to get up to the Thunder 25. A couple of runs by Corbin Ebben got Saskatoon up to the Regina eight, but the drive would stall there, and Gratton would have a 14-yard field goal. It would go off the right upright, and a promising drive would end with no points.
That’s where things would wrap up after the opening 15 minutes, with the Hilltops holding a 3-0 edge.
Regina put together a solid drive to start the second quarter, getting a couple of decent runs from Peter Boersch to get up to the Hilltops 36. That set up Case with a 44-yard field goal, and he’d get the job done to tie the game with 9:35 left in the half.
Saskatoon replied with a solid drive immediately, with quarterback Griffin Sander putting together an efficient series and using a handful of good runs by Ebben to get into the red zone at the Regina 16.
The Thunder defence stiffened there, though, and Saskatoon had to settle for another field goal attempt from 20 yards out. This time, Gratton was on the money and the Hilltops had a 6-3 edge with just over four minutes left in the first half.
Saskatoon had a big catch from Dylan Geiss on their next drive to get out of a second-and-20 hole up to the Saskatoon 30, and a couple of plays later, they were in the red zone up to the 15.
It was the Hilltops defence that got the stop this time around, and Case came through with a 22-yard field goal to make it 6-6 with 52 seconds to play in the opening half.
Regina quickly moved the ball downfield as time ran down before halftime, as quarterback Jayden Zelionka found Tanner Donovel for a couple of big catches to get up to the Hilltops 35. The final drive of the half would end with a 25-yard field goal attempt from Case, and the first half battle of the kickers would see Regina go into the dressing room with a 9-6 lead.
Donovel was back at it again early in the third quarter, catching a second-down pass from Zelionka at the Saskatoon 35 and adding another 24 yards after the catch to get up to the 14.
As has been the theme on the night, the Hilltops red zone defence came up big again, and Case would put through a 15-yarder for his fourth field goal of the game and a 12-6 lead with 8:38 left in the third.
A couple of series later, Case was called on again for another field goal chance from the 41, but it would go wide left, and the Hilltops would run the ball out of the endzone to hold Regina without any points.
That chance came with just over a minute left in the third quarter, and Regina took their six-point edge into the final 15 minutes.
Regina’s first drive of the last quarter ended the same way every other drive in the game to that point, and Case would hit from 36 yards out for his fifth field goal with 11:55 remaining to play.
Case was called on for the seventh time on the night with 3:45 to play from 39 yards out, but the kick went wide right. The Thunder still got the rouge to take a 16-6 lead.
After a quick two-and-out by the Hilltops, Boersch went to work as the Thunder attempted to kill off the clock. A handful of decent runs got deep into Saskatoon territory inside of two minutes, and a 27-yard field goal gave Case a 6-for-8 night and a 19-6 lead with 24 seconds left.
Saskatoon kneeled out on their final possession and the Thunder win was in the books.
Regina sweeps the season series against Saskatoon for the first time since 2022.
The two teams will close out their regular season at home on Sunday, Oct. 4, with Saskatoon hosting the Winnipeg Rifles and Regina hosting the Calgary Colts. Both games kick off at 1 p.m.
