The Prairie Conference will open the postseason on Sunday with a pair of games in Saskatchewan

Calgary Colts @ Saskatoon Hilltops – Sunday October 15 @ 1pm – SMF Field | WATCH HERE

For the first time since 2016 the Hilltops and Colts meet in the postseason when they face each other on Sunday in a Prairie Conference semi-final. 

Since 2000 these two teams have met six times in the playoffs, with the Hilltops winning all six.  The last time the Colts beat the Hilltops in the playoffs was way back in 1990 when the Colts won 41-37 in overtime, then went onto win the Canadian Bowl. 

This past regular season the undefeated Hilltops smoked the Colts 50-18 on August 27th in Saskatoon.  The home side scored 21 points in the first quarter, then 22 in the second completely shutting down the Colts.  Offensively Trey Reider threw for 321 yards and three touchdowns and Boston Davidsen rushed for 190 yards and a score.

Defensively they had an incredible seven sacks, three of them by Kai Kukurudza. Speaking of their defence, they had the stingiest across the CJFL during the season allowing an average of only six points a game.

The Colts come into the playoffs scoring 66 points on Thanksgiving Sunday to beat the Edmonton Wildcats 66-10.  The victory snapped a two-game slide. 

During the regular season the Colts only had three wins, but in those games, they averaged 49 points.  They will need to play an absolute perfect game to upset the Hilltops and that still might not be enough. It is a massive challenge as they head into SMF Field as big underdogs, particularly if their QB1 Liam Oczkowski remains on the sidelines with an injury. 

Head-to-Head

Records: Colts 3-5 – Hilltops 8-0
Avg Points For: Colts 34 – Hilltops 42
Avg Points Allowed: Colts 37.6 – Hilltops 6

Passing Leaders: Liam Oczkowski – 133 of 201 for 1648 yards, 10 touchdowns (Colts) – Trey Reider – 108 of 167 for 1571 yards, 16 touchdowns (Hilltops)

Rushing Leaders: Alan Xiang – 84 carries for 381 yards, 6 touchdowns (Colts) – Boston Davidsen – 170 carries for 1184 yards, 9 touchdowns (Hilltops)

Receiving Leaders: Nicholas Sirleaf – 45 receptions for 739 yards, 8 touchdowns (Colts) – Drake Douglas – 42 receptions for 591 yards, 4 touchdowns (Hilltops)

Leading Tacklers: Khalid Anglo – 22 tackles (Colts) – Matt Wist – 22 tackles (Hilltops)

Edmonton Huskies @ Regina Thunder – Sunday October 15, 1:00pm – Leibel Field | WATCH HERE

These two teams are very familiar with each other after the Thunder took down the Huskies on Thanksgiving Sunday 39-10 with the Thunder defence shutting them down and forced three interceptions.

Believe it or not that was the only meeting of the season between these two teams.  The winner was not only playing for points in the standings, but to host this playoff tilt as well. 

Speaking of the playoffs, these two face each other a lot.  The Huskies have won the last two postseason meetings; 20-17 in 2019 and 39-36 in 2018.  The last time the Thunder beat them in the playoffs was in 2017 with a 24-21 victory.

Judging by last weekend the Thunder seem to be in the driver seat, but still appear to be missing their QB1 in Carter Moberg.  The starter hasn’t played in the last couple of weeks and his status in unknown for this coming weekend.

The Huskies are also banged up and will look for a better performance from both sides of the ball this coming Sunday in Regina.

The winner moves onto the Prairie Conference title game the following weekend.

Head-to-Head

Records: Huskies 4-4 – Thunder 6-2
Avg Points For: Huskies 27.5 – Thunder 32.7
Avg Points Allowed: Huskies 29.1 – Thunder 18.1

Passing Leaders: Carson Neitz – 88 of 171 for 1358 yards, 9 touchdowns (Huskies) – Carter Moberg – 91 of 171 for 1449 yards and 13 touchdowns (Thunder)

Rushing Leaders: Ife Adebogun – 86 carries for 525 yards, 3 touchdowns (Huskies) - Ryland Leichert – 152 carries for 1017 yards, 8 touchdowns (Thunder)

Receiving Leaders: Carver Trapp – 24 receptions for 317 yards, 2 touchdowns (Huskies) – Isaiah Woodley – 41 receptions for 677 yards, 5 touchdowns (Thunder)

Leading Tacklers: Kaige Houle – 33 tackles (Huskies) – Stephen Smith – 43 tackles (Thunder)