Photo courtesy of Wanda Harron Photography
The Regina Thunder are the Prairie Conference champions after an upset win in Saskatoon on Sunday.
Regina Thunder 24
Saskatoon Hilltops 19
It turns out third times a charm for the Regina Thunder. After falling to the Saskatoon Hilltops in their first two meetings this season, they won the game that counted most and became the Prairie Conference champions for the second time in three seasons.
They would lead the game the entire way after scoring a touchdown six minutes into the game on 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ethan Hugg to Zak Woidyla. Amazingly that would really be the only success the Thunder would find through the air as Hugg and Carter Moberg combined to throw for only 64 yards. The ground game would do the rest of the damage offensively gaining 321 tough yards against a very strong Hilltop defence.
The two-headed monster or Sadik Sadik and Ryland Leichert was virtually unstoppable. Sadik ran 28 times for 178 yards and scored touchdowns in the second and fourth quarters while Leichert rushed 20 times for 118 yards.
Defensively the Thunder bent but didn’t break holding the Hilltops highflying offence to just three points in the first half. Then in the second they clamped down just in time and held on for the victory even with the Hilltops on the door step looking for the winning score.
As a matter of fact, on the final play of the game, after quarterback Trey Reider bobbled the snap, his throw to the end zone was broken up by the Thunder secondary to preserve the win. The Thunder forced four turnovers including a turnover on downs late in the game that was key moment in the contest. Tristan Bergquist made seven tackles and had three knockdowns and Mitchell Tanchak had the lone interception.
Both Hilltops touchdowns where scored by running back Corbin Ebben. In the third quarter he had a 14-yard run for a major, then caught a 14-yard pass from Reider in the fourth for a score. Oddly enough, both 14-yard scores, came 14 minutes into the respective quarter.
Reider was outstanding on the afternoon completing 23 passes for 305 yards and threw the touchdown to Ebben. He also rushed nine times for 102 yards.
The loss was the only one of the season for the Hilltops who have their season come to a end.
The Thunder advance to the CJFL National Semi-Final game and will host the Okanagan Sun on Sunday afternoon at 1:00pm at Leibel Field. It’s a rematch of the 2022 Canadian Bowl with the winner heading to Ontario for the 2024 national championship game.