Photo courtesy of Louis Christ Photography

Sunday afternoon the province of Saskatchewan celebrated a pair of Prairie Conference semifinal victories in Regina and Saskatoon. As a result, the Conference title game is set! 

Regina Thunder 49
Edmonton Huskies 10

The Thunder will host the 2025 Prairie Conference championship game this coming weekend after a home semifinal victory over the Huskies on Sunday.

Whether it was offence, defence or specials, the Thunder controlled the pace of play en route to their victory.  On the offensive side they had a balanced attack including 375 yards on the ground led by former Huskie Jackson Harnett who averaged 29 yards a carry and finished with 204 total with two touchdowns.  Peter Boersch added another major on eight carries and 54 yards.   Through the air quarterback Adam Mosher completed 10 passes for 180 yards and a pair of majors to Andrew Sweeney.

The defence held the Huskies run game to 97 yards and forced four turnovers on downs.  Linebacker Kenten Effa was outstanding with four tackles, five assists, blocked a punt and recorded a sack.

On Specials, kicker Shawn Green accounted for 17 points including nailing all three field goal attempts, the longest from 28 yards out.

The Huskies did all their scoring in the second quarter.   Quarterback Wesley Neitz hit William Campbell for a 21-yard strike before kicker Boaz Comeau kicked an impressive 51-yard field goal.

Speaking of Neitz, the rookie did find some success through the air completing 20 passes for 202 yards.  Campbell was his favourite target making 11 receptions for 112 yards.

The Thunder advance and will host the Saskatoon Hilltops in the Prairie Conference championship game next weekend with the winner hosting the 2025 Canadian Bowl.

Saskatoon Hilltops 60
Winnipeg Rifles 26

After a 21-point first quarter, the Hilltops blew open the game in the third frame with 28 more points and cruised to the lopsided semifinal victory over the visiting Rifles on Sunday.

The ground assault was simply outstanding for the Hilltops to the tune of 380 combined yards and David Collins had himself a day.  He rushed 16 times for 207 yards and two touchdowns while teammate Charles Sawi only carried three times but made them count averaging 34 yards and scored two touchdowns, including an 80-yard sprint.   Corbin Ebben also scored two majors on the ground on six carries.   Their lone throwing touchdown came from backup Griffin Sander in the fourth quarter finding David Boyd Jr from 29 yards out.

On the other side, the Rifles offence did collect 461 total yards primarily through the air but did turn the ball over six times.   Quarterback Riley Element was good with 24 completions for 338 yards and threw a touchdown pass to Jarome Penner who caught eight passes for 119 yards.  Cole Davies also had a big game with seven catches for 116 yards.  Running back Kaiden Banfield was outstanding and gave the Rifles another option on the ground carrying the ball 24 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns in a losing cause.

Both defences coughed up over 460 yards to the opposition’s offence.  The Hilltops “D” bent but didn’t break too often.  Nathan Gallant intercepted two passes and had a team high four tackles, and Noah Chelsom forced and recovered a fumble. 

Rifles’ linebacker Derek Gumieny led his club with a game high 6.5 tackles, 1.5 for a loss and forced and recovered a fumble.

The Hilltops advance to the Prairie Conference championship game and will visit the Regina Thunder next weekend to win the right to host the 2025 Canadian Bowl.