Photo courtesy of Matthew Hamilton

The Prairie Conference final will be an All-Saskatchewan battle following wins by the Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder on Sunday.  Here's the summary:

Saskatoon Hilltops 28
Winnipeg Rifles 21

The Hilltops will make their 11th straight appearance in the Prairie Conference final after holding on to beat the visiting Rifles.

The tone was set early as Josh Ewanchyna returned the opening kick-off 91 yards for a touchdown, a lead the Hilltops never relinquished.

After the return the ground game was the driving force for the three time defending champs gaining 258 yards behind Logan Fischer and Adam Machart.  Fischer rumbled 13 times for a game high 108 yards while Machart carried a game high 19 times for 105 yards and scored a touchdown.

Through the air quarterback Jordan Walls records his first playoff victory finishing 13 of 24 for 130 yards and threw a 14 yard touchdown pass to Sam Mike.  With Ryan Turple on the slide line Mike was the go-to guy with a game high nine receptions for 101 yards and the touchdown.

Defensively the Toppers forced three turnovers including an inception from Logan Kelsey and a fumble recovery by Riley Pickett.  Colin Holmes led his club with seven solo tackles.

The Winnipeg Rifles played an excellent road game and showed tremendous character scoring 14 points in the fourth quarter to scare the crowd.   Quarterback Jonathan Remple had his best game of the season finishing 20 of 35 for 239 yards and threw three touchdown passes.  His favourite target was Alexander Tachinski who caught seven passes for 97 yards and a 19 yard touchdown.  Cole Chowen and Griffin Shillingford also caught majors.

The CJFL rushing champ Micheal Ritchott gained 74 yards on 14 carries in his final CJFL game.

On the defensive side Donovan Hillary led the way with seven tackles and Samson Abbott recorded the lone sack.

The Hilltops will move on and host the Regina Thunder in the Prairie Conference final in an all Saskatchewan battle.

Regina Thunder 24
Edmonton Huskies 21

The Thunder recorded the upset victory thanks in large part to a 13 point fourth quarter giving them a three-point win.

Quarterback Sawyer Buettner finished 18 of 32 for 284 yards and threw a 75 yard touchdown pass to Jh’Qhin Swan.  He also rushed five times for 31 yards and a scored a touchdown in the fourth quarter to put the Thunder ahead for good.  The only knock on his performance was the four interceptions he threw.  His favourite target was Levi Paul who hauled in seven passes for 76 yards.

Defensively the Thunder forced six turnovers including three interceptions from Cordell Kadash, Zach Richardson and Carson Bell.  The lone sack was recorded by Braxton Turnbull.

The Thunder win is sweet revenge after the club lost by 32 points just three weeks ago.

For the Huskies the loss is a huge disappointment.  Heading into last week’s game this team was undefeated but just two weeks later a pair of losses and their season is over.

Quarterback Brad Launhardt completed 26 passes for 276 yards and threw a pair of touchdowns finding Harrison Cabel and Tanner Buchanan.  Launhardt used eight different receivers.

The Huskies ground game saw six different ball carries gain 146 yards but couldn’t get into the endzone.    Jimmie Airey rushed eight times for 51 yards.

On the defensive side the Huskies played excellent. Justin Hodinsky intercepted two passes and Brandon Mellen and Gaetano Minto each had one.  Bryce Lea led the club with six tackles and Jassen Brown collected four.

The Thunder now move onto to the Prairie Conference title game for the first time since 2013 and will visit the Saskatoon Hilltops in an All-Saskatchewan match-up next weekend.