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Prairie Conference Final

By Ryan Watters (@ryan2tswatters), 10/29/22, 7:15PM PDT

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The Thunder host the Hilltops

Photo courtesy of Wanda Harron Photography

#2 Saskatoon Hilltops @ #1 Regina Thunder - Sunday October 30, 1:00pm | WATCH HERE

Sunday afternoon a pair of familiar foes will battle for the third time this year with stakes much higher than in the regular season. 

The top seeded Regina Thunder will host the second seeded and the defending Conference champion Saskatoon Hilltops in the Prairie Conference title game.   The winner then gets to host the 2022 Canadian Bowl on November 12th and play for junior football supremacy.  

It’s the second time in franchise history that the Thunder will host this game.  Last season was the first time and the Hilltops came into Regina and beat them 29-9 completely dominating the previously undefeated Thunder.   

This marks the ninth time since 2000 that these two franchises will meet in a playoff game, the Hilltops winning the previous eight.  The only Thunder victory came in the Conference title game in 2013 when they won 21-16 and went onto host and win the Canadian Bowl. 

During this past regular season, the Thunder won both match-ups in consecutive weekends and is one of the reasons why they have homefield advantage.   On September 10th they claimed a 29-21 overtime win in Saskatoon with an extremely exciting and wild finish.  Then seven days later won 23-7 holding the Toppers to one rushing touchdown and forced three interceptions.  

Sunday’s championship game is expected to be another hard fought, physical, exciting game and will no doubt come down the wire at Mosaic Stadium. 

In order to play in this championship both teams had to win their semi-finals last weekend.  The Thunder took down the Winnipeg Rifles 23-14 in the snow, rain and wind while the Hilltops came back to beat the Edmonton Huskies 20-15. 

Head to Head (regular season) 

Records: Hilltops 5-3 – Thunder 8-0
Points For: Hilltops 243 – Thunder 286
Points Allowed: Hilltops 129 – Thunder 130 

Passing Leaders: Trey Reider – 63 of 95 for 756 yards and 7 touchdowns (Hilltops) – Carter Shewchuk – 157 of 250 for 2351 yards and 18 touchdowns (Thunder) 

Rushing Leaders: Boston Davidsen – 149 carries for 1037 yards and 7 touchdowns (Hilltops) – Ryland Leichert – 124 carries for 724 yards and 4 touchdowns (Thunder) 

Receiving Leaders: Boden Marley – 33 receptions for 349 yards and 1 touchdown (Hilltops) – Rylan Sokul – 44 receptions for 669 yards and 4 touchdowns (Thunder) 

Leading Tacklers: Matt Wist – 36 tackles (Hilltops) – Stephen Smith – 29 tackles (Thunder)