PFC: Hilltops claim 14th championship trophy, face VI Raiders Saturday

The 35th PFC championship game and second final matchup took place on a cloudy & cool afternoon at Griffiths Stadium.

The Hilltops took the opening drive down to the Calgary 5, but Zach Schmidt would be wide left on a 12-yard field goal try. Calgary tailback DJ Whetton would run for 12 yards but fumble on the very next play. The ensuing drive resulted in a major score as John Trumpy hauled in a 44-yard touchdown pass from Chase Bradshaw to make it 8-0 after 15 minutes.

The game remained an 8-0 defensive struggle until the 8:51 mark of the middle frame when Hilltops slotback John Trumpy reeled in a 35-yard strike, and then Schuler ran 17 yards to make it 15-0. Trumpy would lead all receivers with 79 yards on a pair of catches.

Saskatoon would seal its 13th PFC title in the third quarter as Adam Morrison would pick off Clayton Masikewich & return it 47 yards to expand the lead to 22-0. The Colts marched 62 yards in 12 plays and would score the lone points 22 seconds into the final quarter as Marshal Broom connected on a 24-yard field goal.

The Hilltops would ice it with a 22-yard Schmidt field goal followed by Ben Cressman, who came up with his third interception of the afternoon and returned it for a 20-yard pick-six to make it 32-3.

Saskatoon will head to Nanaimo next Saturday to play the BCFC champions Vancouver Island Raiders who blanked the Langley Rams 44-0 in the Cullen Cup Final.

Chase Bradshaw went 12 of 18 for 179 yards, while Colts passer Clayton Masikewich went 16 of 34 for 188 yards, throwing 4 interceptions. Regan Schuler would run for 148 yards on 29 carries. Colts back Cuong Thai Lieu would get 118 yards on the afternoon.

Ben Cressman’s 3 interceptions would tie a modern PFC playoff record for interceptions set by Greg Jones of the Saskatoon Hilltops on November 5, 1978.

PFC sports info
Photo: Rob Vanstone

Hilltops neutralize Colts en route to 13th PFC junior gridiron title
Todd Kimberley, Media Consultant

SASKATOON — There seems to be a perennial ’Toon Town mystique surrounding the Prairie Football Conference championship final. Sunday afternoon, the Calgary Colts couldn’t do much to break that spell.

The Saskatoon Hilltops, making their 30th appearance in the 35-year history of the PFC title game, took advantage of a sputtering Colts offence at Saskatoon’s Griffiths Stadium, riding a series of costly turnovers to a 32-3 victory and their 13th PFC crown.

“You’re never happy when you lose out in the playoffs. But that’s part of the deal. Losing sucks,” said offensive co-ordinator Ray Salverda. “We weren’t supposed to be as good as 5-2-1 this year, but we were. And I’m happy with that.”

Added defensive co-ordinator John Stevens: “The biggest thing we always ask the guys is to play 60 minutes, regardless of what else is going on. And I was really proud of the fact that despite a lot of distractions, our players were able to do that.

“They can leave the game with their heads high — that they gave all they could, and had a very good season.”

While turning the ball over four times in the first half, the Colts still only trailed by a 15-0 count at the break, thanks to the club’s usually magnificent defence.

But Saskatoon lineman Adam Morrison’s 40-yard interception return for a touchdown six minutes into the third quarter essentially proved the backbreaker, making it 22-0 in this battle for prairie junior gridiron supremacy.

Linebacker Ben Cressman later rubbed salt in the wounds during the final few minutes, picking off a Clayton Masikewich (3rd year, Calgary, John G. Diefenbaker HS) pass for the third time and taking it 25 yards to the house for the final points of the afternoon.

“By far the most competitive football game the Hilltops have played this year,” Saskatoon head coach Tom Sargeant told Saskatoon’s CJWW Radio.

The Hilltops, who were regular-season champions at 7-1, had barely scraped into Sunday’s PFC final, after rallying with 14 points in the final two minutes to defeat the Winnipeg Rifles 36-34 in a conference semifinal Oct. 16.

Saskatoon moves on to the Canadian Junior Football League’s semifinal, known as the Jostens Cup, against the Vancouver Island Raiders at Nanaimo, B.C., on Saturday, Oct. 29. The Raiders defeated the Langley Rams 44-0 on Saturday in the British Columbia Football Conference (BCFC) title game.

The Colts, who’d finished 5-2-1 in the regular season and routed the Regina Thunder 55-6 in their own conference semi, are now 2-2 overall in the PFC final.

Calgary’s only points Sunday came off the foot of placekicker Marshal Broom (1st year, Calgary, Notre Dame HS), who booted a 19-yard field goal 22 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Running back D.J. Whetton (3rd year, Montreal, CIS Calgary) fumbled on Calgary’s first offensive play, and Cressman picked off Masikewich twice in those opening 30 minutes, but the Hilltops only took advantage with 25 seconds left in the first half.

Morrison stripped Masikewich of the football in the pocket, with fellow lineman Brett Pisio falling on the ball at the Calgary 52. Saskatoon pivot Chase Bradshaw hit John Trumpy for a 35-yard gain, and on the next play, Regan Schuler rumbled 17 yards up the middle for a TD and a 15-0 Hilltops lead.

Trumpy had hauled in a 44-yard pass from Bradshaw 8:51 into the first quarter, a play that made it 8-0 Saskatoon.

Individually, Calgary running back Cuong Thai Lieu (3rd year, Nanaimo, B.C, John Barsby HS) carried the ball 17 times for 118 yards. Masikewich connected on 16 of 34 passes for 188 yards and those four picks. His favourite targets were Matt Lamoureux (1st year, Calgary, Notre Dame HS), who hauled in six passes for 53 yards, and Mac Sarro (2nd year, Calgary, Notre Dame HS), who made three grabs for 51 yards.

Defensively, Colts halfback Tom Knitter (4th year, Cochrane, Alta., Cochrane HS) picked off Bradshaw in the second quarter.

Defensive end Prince Baffoh (3rd year, Hamilton, Ont., BCFC Vancouver) hammered Bradshaw with a hard first-half hit just as he released the ball, adding five tackles, a knockdown, and a fumble recovery.

Linebacker Jase Skelton (3rd year, Medicine Hat, Alta., Medicine Hat HS) led the Colts with 16 defensive points, a total that included seven tackles.

SASKATOON HILLTOPS 32

CALGARY COLTS 3

SCORING
1[SUP]ST[/SUP] QUARTER
SASK-SG Schmidt 12 3:24
SASK-TD Trumpy 44 pass from Bradshaw (Schmidt Convert) 8:51
2[SUP]ND[/SUP] QUARTER
SASK-TD Schuler 17 run (Schmidt Convert) 14:35
3[SUP]RD[/SUP] QUARTER
SASK-TD Morrison 47 INT return (Schmidt Convert) 5:39
4[SUP]TH[/SUP] QUARTER
CGY-FG Broom 19 :22
SASK-FG Schmidt 22 7:11
SASK-TD Cressman 20 INT return (Schmidt Convert) 11:30

YARDSTICKS
CGY SASK
1[SUP]ST[/SUP] DOWNS 18 18
YDS RUSH 170 163
YDS PASS 188 179
NET OFF 349 323
PASSES MADE/TRIED 17/33 12/19
INTS THROWN 4 0
FUMBLES/LOST 3/2 1/1

PENALTIES/YDS 14/90 9/95

PASSING C A YDS TD INT
Clayton Masikewich CGY 16 34 259 0 4

Chase Bradshaw SASK 12 18 179 1 1

RUSHING C YDS TD LG
Cuong Thai Lieu CGY 17 118 0 44
DJ Whetton CGY 3 19 0 12
Jeremy Long CGY 3 6 0 3

Regan Schuler SASK 29 148 1 17
Brendon Gryba SASK 2 10 0 7
Chase Bradshaw SASK 2 5 0 3

RECEIVING
Matt Lamoureux CGY 6 53 0 14
Mac Sarro CGY 3 51 0 28

John Trumpy SASK 2 79 1 44
Kyle McGinnis SASK 5 34 0 16

DEFENSE:

Jase Skelton CGY 7 Tackles, 2 Assists 16 DPTS
Prince Baffoh CGY 5 Tackles, 1 Assist, 1 PKD, 1 FR 15 DPTS

Ben Cressman SASK 2 Tackles, 1 Assist, 1 STA, 3 INTS-20 YDS, 1 TD-20 DPTS
Graig Newman SASK 5 Tackles, 3 Assists, 2 STT, 1 STA, 18 DPTS