There are shows of defensive dominance . . . and then there’s the sort of dazzling display the Calgary Colts put on Sunday.
The Colts turned a parade of picks into a landslide of points at McMahon Stadium, annihilating the Regina Thunder 55-6 in a Prairie Football Conference playoff semifinal game that saw 34 Calgary points scored directly or indirectly off interceptions.
Victory catapults the Colts into their first PFC final since the 2008 season. They’ll face the perennial favourite Saskatoon Hilltops, who rallied to defeat the Winnipeg Rifles 36-34 on Sunday, in the conference championship game Sunday, Oct. 23 at 1 p.m. MT at Saskatoon’s Griffiths Stadium.
“The defence came to play. Our first five games of the season, they were very, very good, but the past three games they’ve been . . . I’ll use the word tepid. They haven’t been hot. A lot of yardage given up,” said veteran head coach Keith Kendal. “They had a point to prove — that they were as good as they’ve shown earlier in the year. And they went a long way today in showing that.
“We made some changes (in preparation for the Thunder), there’s no question, particularly in our secondary and particularly with our coverages. And that’s why sometimes there was a DB sitting there when the ball came,” added Kendal. “I know we didn’t get much in the way of sacks (one), but we put pressure on the quarterback and we made ‘em hurry a few times. And that helped, too.”
Defensive halfback Skylar Pinchak (4th year, Cardston, Alta., Cardston HS) came down with two interceptions, running one of them back for a touchdown that capped a 22-point third quarter for Calgary and made it 34-0 for the hosts.
Fellow defensive halfback Tom Knitter (4th year, Cochrane, Alta., Cochrane HS) added two picks of his own, the second of which set up a 13-yard TD rumble by Chucks Okafor (3rd year, Medicine Hat, Alta., Crescent Heights HS) in the final minute.
Cornerback Alex Saretsky (5th year, Cochrane, Alta., Cochrane HS) took his own interception 92 yards to the house early in the fourth quarter, giving the Colts a 41-0 bulge, while safety Pat MacDonald (3rd year, Calgary, St. Mary’s HS) stepped into an errant pass in the third quarter. On the very next play, Clayton Masikewich (3rd year, Calgary, John G. Diefenbaker HS) found receiver Matt Lamoureux (1st year, Calgary, Notre Dame HS) up the middle for an 18-yard TD strike. That play made it 27-0 — and acted as the knockout punch, especially with the Thunder offence using all three of its quarterbacks (Wyatt Catley, Landon Bessel, and Asher Hastings) and not getting much accomplished.
“We were quite embarrassed after our last game in Regina (a 32-19 loss at Mosaic Stadium on Oct. 2). That’s just not Colts defence,” said Saretsky. “We just had to come out and play like we can. Our coaches did a very good job in getting us in the position we needed to go, and everyone did their job. I guess it showed on the field.”
On the other side of the ball, Masikewich completed 18 of 31 passes for 203 yards, finding Lamoureux and Rodreke Joseph (2nd year, Toronto, OFC Burlington), on a six-yard play, in the end zone Sunday. “The first half was a little tough,” said Masikewich. “But the captains and seniors all stepped up and said a little something, and I think that really got the guys fired up. You could see that in the second half; we knew what we wanted to do, and we did it.”
Placekicker Marshal Broom (1st year, Calgary, Notre Dame HS) was good on five field goals, connecting from 49, 44, 43, 32, and 28 yards.
This marks the Colts’ fourth appearance in the PFC final, with wins in 1989 and ’90 and a loss in ’08.
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