SASKATOON 17 WESTSHORE 10
It was two undefeated teams, so something had to give.
And the Westshore Rebels’ defence did, barely, just enough to give the Saskatoon Hilltops another Canadian Bowl title.
The Hilltops got an early second-quarter TD from Noah Flaman to break a scoreless deadlock, then rode their rock-solid defence to a 17-10 victory in front of 2,800 fans on a rainy Saturday afternoon at Starlight Stadium.
The Rebels made a lengthy, late drive to try to force overtime, but came up just short inside the Hilltops’ 30-yard line.
The Rebels, coming off a perfect 10-0 B.C. Football Conference regular season and another two playoff victories, were looking for their first Canadian Bowl title after two previous losses to the Hilltops in the championship game. But these Hilltops, coming off a 43-0 hammering of Ontario champion St. Clair Saints of Windsor, Ont., in the Canadian Junior Football League semifinal game, were determined to break the BCFC hold on the national championship — Okanagan Sun and Langley Rams won the previus two — and that they did while claiming the storied franchise’s 23rd Canadian Bowl crown.
“This game could have gone either way with two great football teams battling, but the Hilltop spirit, the championship way, as we call it, took it to another level and certainly made a difference, and people can now see why we’ve won 23 national championships,” said Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant, who has been bench boss of the Toppers for 26 seasons.
The Rebels’ high-powered offence, led by veteran quarterback Te Jesse and star running back Gerren Hardisty, had trouble getting on track in the first half, with Jesse throwing for just 94 yards, and Westshore trailed 7-0 at the half. But when speedy receiver Ciaro Berry took the second half kickoff 65 yards for a score to tie the game at 7-7, the Rebels and their boisterous fans came to life.
But the Hilltops never flinched. And three minutes later, Saskatoon was in the endzone again thanks to a two-yard run by Canadian Bowl MVP, Boston Davidsen. The speedy Davidsen finished with 25 carries for 157 yards.
Jesse had some success in the second half and finished 23 of 35 for 221 yards passing, but he also threw two interceptions.
“We didn’t stop the run and took too many timely penalties in the first half, and that’s a great football program over there and you just can’t make that many mistakes against a team like that,” Rebels head coach Dexter Janke said.
“It’s a tough result for us, especially being on our home field, but you learn from it and move on.”
Hilltops quarterback Trey Reider completed 12 of his 20 pass attempts for 172 yards, but this night belonged to his teammates on the other side of the ball. Even though they took some key penalties that kept the Rebels’ final drive alive, they stepped up when it mattered most.
“Our defence has been unbelievable all year along,” said Sargeant.
“We don’t use the word ‘legendary’ very often, but this defence has been that all year.
“They’ve given up maybe six or seven points a game all year which is off the charts, especially in today’s game which is geared toward the offence.
“But this defence has been on-point and was really fun to watch today.
“We took some penalties at the end there but they were what I call hard penalties, not dumb penalties, so they played smart and with heart and that’s what we call the championship way.”
