Hastings lead Thunder to first Canadian Bowl championship (VIDEO)

The Regina Thunder beat the Vancouver Island Raiders 55-26 in the 2013 Canadian Bowl, claiming their first National Championship since 1998 when they were known as the Rams.

BOXSCORE

The Thunder offense seemed to be able to move the ball at will, gaining 596 yards of total offense and scoring 55 points.

Quarterback Asher Hastings was simply terrific completing 23 of 34 for 377 yards and tied a Canadian Bowl record with five touchdown passes.  His efforts named him the Offensive Player of the Game.  Hastings spread the ball around finding seven different receivers.  His favourite was Mitchell Thompson who caught a game high nine balls for 189 yards and two majors.  Will Heward hauled in five passes for 72 yards, while Brady Keller, Justin Banin and Daniel Jacob Carr each found the end zone.

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On the ground the Thunder offensive line dominated the Raiders, as Nick Brown rumbled 203 yards on 20 carries and scored a touchdown.  His 203 yards is sixth most in Canadian Bowl history.  Matt Frass also scored a major, on just two carries.

Rookie kicker William McGee rounded out the scoring, connecting on his only two field goal attempts.

Defensively the Thunder bent but didn’t break, coming up strong when they needed to most.  Linebacker Brett Selinger led the charge with game high seven solo tackles, plus had two assists.  He was named the Defensive Player of the Game.  Dustin Erbach compiled four tackles and forced a fumble.  The Thunder caused four Raider turnovers as Chris Tunnicliffe tallied a fumble recovery and intercepted a pass in the dying seconds.  Mason Dick also recovered a fumble and had the lone sack, while Landon Walter picked off a pass.

This is the first championship for the franchise since becoming the Thunder in 2000.  The Regina Rams captured the title in 1997 and 1998.  Head Coach Scott MacAuley wins the national crown in his first year at the helm; he was a player for the Rams in their back to back titles.

It was a great playoff run for the Vancouver Island Raiders averaging 54 points in the first three games; however in the 2013 Canadian Bowl they had no answer for the Thunder offense.

The BCFC champs used four different quarterbacks.  CJFL Rookie of the Year Jamie Ybarra was inserted in the line up after the ineffectiveness of Jaeden Marwick and Jahmari Bennett, despite an injury.  Ybarra was solid completing nine of 16 passes for 201 yards.  Marwick and Bennett, along with Dylan Schrot combined to finish six of 12 for 89 yards and two interceptions.

Whitman Tomusiak, in possibly his final junior game, caught a team high five passes for 83 yards.  Schrot hauled in four passes for 78 yards.

On the ground Bennett scored all three Raiders touchdowns, each on a one yard touchdown plunge.  Andrew Deleon carried five times for 71 yards, while Ashton Galloway rushed five times for 30 yards.

Kicker Ryan Jones was solid, connecting on both field goal attempts.

On the defensive side of the ball, Cole Bishop recorded a game high five solo tackles and Jaxxen Wylie had the only turnover, making an interception.  Andrew Rowe, Nigel Henry, Fabian Ross, Ash Gayat and Quinton Bowles each had three stops.

The Raiders fall to 3-2 in National Championship games.  The future looks bright for the Raiders, as they will return a number of players including the CJFL Rookie of the Year Jamie Ybarra.

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