The Saskatoon Hilltops equaled a couple of records as they successfully defended the Canadian Bowl by defeating the Hurricanes 29-1 Saturday in Hamilton.

The victory was the 15th national championship in Hilltops’ team history, tying them with the Regina Rams for the most Canadian Junior Football titles. Fifth year safety Graig Newman tied a Canadian Bowl game mark with three interceptions as the Toppers’ defence forced Hamilton into eight turnovers.

Chase Bradshaw, in his final game of junior football, threw touchdown passes to Aaron Haight and John Trumpy and plunged one yard for a third score. Fifth year running back Regan Schuler ended his Hilltops’ career with 215 yards on 30 carries…one of them a 42-yard touchdown run while Saskatoon operated into a stiff south-west wind, gusting up to 45 kilometres per hour.

By Tom Hallick, PFC Media Coordinator
The 2011 Canadian Bowl featured a Hilltops squad looking for their 15th national title and 2nd straight Canadian Bowl while the Ontario champion Hurricanes were gunning for their first championship win since 1972.

The Hurricanes wouldn’t score on their opening drive, however the Prairie Champions opened the scoring as Zach Schmidt would be wide on a 41-yard field goal resulting in a rouge almost 6 minutes into the first quarter.

The Hurricanes would grab a first down on their next drive, but would eventually stall. Saskatoon would march the ball downfield midway through the period and use all but the last 7 seconds of the quarter to go on a 13-play drive which wrapped up as Aaron Haight pulled in a 6-yard catch for the score to make it an 8-0 game after 15 minutes.

After a Hamilton two-and-out early in the second quarter, the Hilltops took the ball and took 9 plays to up their lead to a 15-point margin as Regan Schuler, who ran for 215 yards on the day, took a handoff and cut left and rambled 42 yards for a touchdown.

The Hurricanes offense had a horrific half trying to move the ball as Hamilton pivot Matt Francis threw 3 first half interceptions, two of those would land in the hands of veteran safety Graig Newman. Francis would end up tossing 5 interceptions.

The Hurricanes would right themselves and go on a 5-play drive in the final minute. Matt Coates would attempt a 50-yard field goal on the last play, but went wide. A return attempt was halted in the end zone, giving the home side a point.

The Hilltops would drive the ball 67 yards on 4 plays early in the third frame and would find the end zone again as quarterback Chase Bradshaw would sneak into the end zone from a yard out. The score was set up by a huge 59-yard dash from Schuler. The Hilltops lead was 22-1 after 3.
The Hamilton offense would move the ball in spurts, but get nothing more on the board on the day. The Toppers would round out the scoring with 73 seconds to go as slotback John Trumpy made a spectacular twisting catch in the end zone to make it 29-1. Trumpy would sustain what looked to be an ankle injury on the play. The Hilltops capture their 15th Canadian title in convincing fashion.

The players of the game turned out to be rather obvious choices as Regan Schuler claimed the Offensive Player of the Game & safety Graig Newman earned Defensive Player of the Game honors as he equalled the Canadian Bowl record for most interceptions with 3.

Top Photo: Ron Bernardo

Saskatoon Hilltops at Hamilton Hurricanes
at Ivor Wynne Stadium, Hamilton, ON
Game Day Weather
Game Weather: Sunny
Played Outdoor on Artificial Turf
Temp: 12C
Humidity: 93%
Wind: From NW 45 km/h
Lineups

Saskatoon Hilltops

Offense
RT 56 Catlin Dickson
RG 55 Keenan Carrier
RG 61 Kyle Gordon
LG 63 Lane Bryska
RT 65 Matt Leung
C 60 Nathan Draper
OL 68 Tristan Hoath
WR 11 Chad Braun
WR 28 Kyle MCginnis
SB 75 John Trumpy
SB 77 Coleman Young
SB 78 Aaron Haight
QB 6 Chase Bradshaw
QB 8 Matt Karpinka
RB 20 Andre Lalonde
RB 21 Tom Shockey
RB 27 Regan Schuler
RB 30 Brendan Gryba
RB 31 Lane Bannerman
K/P 73 Zach Schmidt

Defense
RE 74 Adam Morrison
DL 43 Derrick Sorenson
DL 64 Clayton Sarich
DL 76 Brett Pisio
DL 79 Donovan Dale
DT 53 Matt Kozun
LB 35 Ben Cressman
LB 45 Justin Filteau
LB 46 Richard Zacharias
LB 47 Quinn Pearce
LB 70 Brennan Thorpe
LB 50 Dylan Kemp
LB 51 Levi Kosowan
HB 4 Braxton Lawrence
HB 34 Joel Haight
S 23 Colin Keys
CB 3 Chris Friesen
CB 19 Mike Prebble
CB 24 Mike Waldron
S 9 Graig Newman

Hamilton Hurricanes

Offense
LG 60 Andrew Lobsinger
LG 69 Erron Collins
C 53 Dan Brown
RG 75 Jordan Cozzi
RG 61 Dylan Bernardi
RT 68 Zach Duguay
LT 67 Carlyle Meehan
WR 9 Kyle Ritchie
WR 84 Spencer Skidmore
WR 29 Dan Iafrate
WR 88 Kyle Johnston
WR 23 Shawn Ward
WR 89 Malcolm Paul
WR 17 Matt Coates
WR 82 Cory Raposo
WR 83 Will Alli
RB 32 Troy Croonen
RB 8 Ryan Kotar
QB 14 Matt Francis
FB 21 Francis DiBartolomeo
FB 12 Samuel Donkor

Defense
DE 35 Matt Brady
DE 71 Steve Wilkieson
DE 94 Callum Ramsay
DE 77 Mike Legacy
DT 98 Melvin Baughan
DT 97 Nathan Aref
DT 95 Anthony Diguana
DT 96 Tyler Corbett
LB 51 John Hornby
LB 40 Geoff Ogilvie
LB 58 Thomas Klinger
LB 41 Cam Dakin
CB 13 Eric Cornell
CB 22 Mitch Stokes
CB 4 Stephen Jordan
FS 30 Cody Lynch
SS 31 Brandon Zulak