Prairie Football Conference (CJFL) week 4 in review

REGINA THUNDER 48

SASKATOON HILLTOPS 23

SEPT.11 MOSAIC STADIUM

Week 4 opened up with the provincial rivals squaring off in the Queen City.

The Saturday night scrap was the first of a back-to-back set between the Thunder & the Hilltops with sole possession of the conference lead on the line. The Shrine Bowl Trophy, emblematic of the season series between the 2 clubs is also at stake.

The game was scoreless until the 10 minute mark of the opening quarter when Hilltops returners Kit Hillis & Graig Newman each tried and failed to reel in a Ben Koot punt. The Thunder would pick up the loose ball on the Hilltop 25 yard-line. It took all of one play for Reid Quest to make Saskatoon pay as he found Jay Smith for a 25-yard touchdown strike and a 7-0 lead.

Saskatoon would drive deep into Thunder territory, but would have to settle for a Zack Schmidt 15-yard field goal to cut the Thunder lead to 10-3 after 1.

The visitors would go ahead 10-7 on a Lane Bannerman 8-yard run after capitalizing on a Regina turnover. That came 77 seconds into the second quarter. The Hilltops would up their lead to 10 as Kit Hillis was on the receiving end of a 44-yard connection from Chase Bradshaw. That capped a 4-play, 78-yard drive.

The Thunder would go on 10-0 run to even the score as Ben Koot connected on a 22-yard goal and then with 56 seconds left in the half, Quest would find Smith for his 2nd TD of the night and the teams would head for halftime even at 17.

Regina would go in front to stay early in the 3rd as Kolten Solomon hauled in a 60-yard TD pass from Quest, then the Regina pivot would sneak in from a yard out to make it 31-17 with 1:43 to go in the frame.

Koot would get his 2nd field goal from 38 yards out 6 minutes into the 4th, and then a little over 50 seconds later, on a Saskatoon fumble Joey Todd would take a lateral from Travis Junior who ran it back 15 yards. Todd would take it the final 30 yards to paydirt.

Smith would score his third and final TD of the night as Quest tossed a 15-yard pass to round out the Regina scoring. The score would make it 41 unanswered points for the Thunder.

Saskatoon would put a major on the board for the sake of the outfit as Ian Miller was on the receiving end of a 58-yard pass from Bradshaw. The two-point pass attempt from Bradshaw would ring off of the uprights.

The Thunder move into sole possession of first at 3-0, while the Hilltops drop to second at 2-1.

SASK 3 14 0 6- 23

REG 7 10 14 17-48

SASK REG

1ST DOWNS 23 24
YDS RUSH 134 125
YDS PASS 296 323
NET OFF 428 423

PASSING:

C A YDS TD INT

Bradshaw, SASK 14 33 291 2 2
Quest, REG 22 32 323 4 1

RUSHING:

C YDS TD

Bannerman, SASK 15 85 0
Coons, REG 16 108 0

RECEIVING: C YDS TD

Miller, SASK 4 102 1
Hillis, SASK 5 83 1

Smith, REG 9 132 3
Solomon, REG 6 102 1

DEFENSE:

Newman, SASK 4 Tackles, 4 Assists, 1 Special Teams Tackle 14 DPTS
Friesen, SASK 4 Tackles, 1 Assist, 1 INT for 7 yards 13 DPTS
Junior, REG 3 Tackles, 6 Assists, 1 Special Teams Tackle, 1 FR for 15 yards

CALGARY COLTS 40

EDMONTON WILDCATS 30

SEPT. 12TH MCMAHON STADIUM

The weekend’s other contest pitted 2 teams who wanted to atone for tough losses inflicted on them prior to the bye week. The Wildcats, who dropped a 27-13 decision to the Saskatoon Hilltops at home, while the Colts took a 59-10 shellacking from the Regina Thunder at Mosaic Stadium.

The Colts would jump out into a 10-0 first quarter lead, compliments of an Andrew Fabian 46-yard field goal a little over 5 minutes in. Doug Long would field a Donovan Kavich punt and return it 72 yards for the first touchdown of the day nearly 90 seconds later.

Edmonton would get on the board in the first minute of the middle frame as Adam Senuik found Mitch Richter for a 26-yard major to pull to within 3 at 10-7.

The home side would restore their 10-point edge halfway through the quarter as Jeremy Long fired a 4-yard pass to Ryan McDermit for his first of two majors on the afternoon.

The game would take a 180-degree swing in the final 3 minutes of the half as Wildcat DB David Berg would pick off a Long pass and run it back 28 yards for a touchdown to cut the Calgary lead to 17-14. Andrew Johnson would put the visitors in front with 1:05 remaining with a 13-yard TD grab to make it 20-17. The convert though, was blocked.

Clayton Masikewich would relieve Long at pivot and score two majors of his own in the 3rd quarter on 1-yard sneaks. The point-after on the 2nd Masikewich TD was blocked, but the Colts again had a 10-point lead, 30-20. Fabian would be good on a 38-yard field goal try with 45 seconds left in the quarter to up the Colt advantage to 33-20.

Kavich would pot his second field-goal from 26 yards out at the 2:19 mark, but the Colts would put the game on ice as Masikewich found McDermit for a 40-yard touchdown toss with a little over 5 minutes left.

Wildcat receiver Jerit Lambert would close out the scoring with a 22-yard pass from Senuik with 2:15 remaining to make the final 40-30.

The Colts move to 2-1 and into a 3-way-tie for 2nd with Saskatoon & Winnipeg. The defending conference champion Wildcats are tied for last with their co-tenants Edmonton Huskies at 0-3.

Yardsticks

EDM CGY

First Downs 17 19
Yds Rushing 96 122
Yards Passing 159 221
Net Offence 232 314
Penalties-Yds 16-123 11-116

Individual Statistics:

Rushing

Calgary:

Chucks Okafor, 15-69
Cuong Thai Lieu, 9-29

Edmonton:

Adam Senuik, 6-42
Jacob Allan, 7-21

Receiving

Calgary:

Ryan McDermit, 5-147, 2 TDs
Jake Harty, 3-35

Edmonton:

Jerit Lambert, 4-67, 1 TD
Mitchell Richter, 3-47, 1 TD

Passing

Calgary:

Clayton Masikewich, 5-7, 117 yards, 1 TD (also rushed for two TDs)
Jeremy Long, 6-13, 104 yards, 1 TD, 3 INTs

Edmonton:

Adam Senuik, 11-33, 159 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT

Defence

Calgary:

Zach McNeill, 4 Tackles, 4 Assists, 12 DPTS
Jase Skelton, 4 tackles, 1 STT 10 DPTS

Edmonton:

Kevin Hanson, 7 Tackles, 2 Assists 16 DPTS
Delano Tennant, 3 Tackles, 2 Assists, 1 STT 12 DPTS
Mike Podloski, 4 tackles 1 Assist, 1 Quarterback Sack 12 DPTS