Hilltops defeat Vancouver Island, off to Hamilton to defend CJFL championship

The Vancouver Island Raiders & Saskatoon Hilltops met for the third time in CJFL playoff action on Saturday afternoon at Caledonia Park. The Raiders wanted to atone for their 34-23 Canadian Bowl loss to the Hilltops last November. The Hilltops rolled into Nanaimo following their second straight conference title win over Calgary by a 32-3 margin.

The PFC champions opened the scoring as Regan Schuler, who had 152 yards on 35 carries, scored the first of his 3 rushing touchdowns on a 2 yard dash. The BC titleholders would quickly even the contest as tailback Jordan Botel scored on a 10-yard touchdown run of his own to knot the game at 7. Botel would run for 121 yards on 13 carries.

The Raiders took the lead as Mark Mueller made good on a 20-yard field goal, which was set up by a late first quarter pick by Raider defensive back Cole Bishop. Bishop would have a 25-yard return. Mueller would connect on his second field goal of the day to make it 13-7. But just before halftime, Schuler would put the Hilltops back in front as he scored on a 4-yard run to make it a 14-13 game at halftime.

Early in the third frame, the Raiders again made Saskatoon pay for a turnover as Glenn Boyce would intercept a Bradshaw pass and return it 15 yards, which led to a 34-yard touchdown strike from Yantz to Andrew Smith to vault the Raiders back out in front by a 20-14 margin. Not to be outdone, the Hilltops charged back as Bradshaw connected with slotback John Trumpy for a 35-yard touchdown to give the Hilltops the lead again at 21-20. Bradshaw would sneak in from a yard out to up the Hilltop lead to 8 heading into the fourth quarter.

Zach Schmidt upped the Saskatoon edge to 31-20 as he hit his lone field goal attempt of the day. However, Yantz & company drove down field and would cap it off with Botel’s second touchdown run of the day, an 8-yard gallop. Yantz would add the 2-point convert to pull the Raiders to within 3. The Raiders would be forced to punt from their end zone late in the contest and the Hilltops would put the wraps on the win thanks to Schuler’s third touchdown run of the day and snap the 44-game Raiders home winning streak that spanned 6 years.

The Hilltops advance to the Canadian Bowl on November 12 at Ivor Wynne Stadium in Hamilton against the Hurricanes who won the Ontario Football Conference crown in impressive fashion, 42-6 over the Windsor AKO Fratmen at Windsor’s Alumni Field.

Chase Bradshaw would complete 11 of 24 for 209 yards with a touchdown toss & an interception, while Raider pivot Jordan Yantz was held to only 125 yards as he completed 11 of 25.

Saskatoon’s Kyle McGinnis led all pass-catchers with 98 yards on 5 grabs, while John Trumpy had 2 catches for 68 yards. Andrew Smith led the Raider receivers with 6 catches for 58 yards, while Dustin Pedersen had 3 catches for 57 yards.

The Hilltops would sweep all 3 game-star awards with Regan Schuler taking the Offensive Player of the Game prize. Linebacker Donovan Dale won Defensive Player of the Game and Zach Schmidt grabbed Special Teams honors.