It’s been 21 years since the Saskatoon Hilltops faced the Windsor AKO Fratmen.  In 1996 the Hilltops won their ninth Canadian Bowl championship with a 39-7 victory over the Fratmen at a neutral site in Oshawa Ontario using a 10 point first quarter.

The Toppers set the tone early. Rhett Lundgren took the opening kick-off 95 yards for the touchdown and they never looked back.

The offence used 369 yards led by their passing game.  Quarterback Sheldon Ball completed 13 passes for 206 yards and threw touchdown passes to Pat Morley and Kelly McNairn.  Ball also scrambled four times and tallied a rushing touchdown.  In all the ground game gathered 180 yards on 28 carries.

The Hilltops defence also got on the scoreboard as Bobby Gibson picked up a Fratmen fumble and returned it 42 yards to the house.  Kyle Stroeder collected two sacks and Mike Lang picked off a pass.  Meanwhile Tye Mountney recorded a game high seven solo tackles and had a knockdown and was named the Defensive Player of the Game.

The Fratmen who played from behind after the opening kick-off did have a balanced attack but found it difficult to finish off a drive.  Their lone score was a 25 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Ryan Wakeman to Chris Phillion in the second quarter.  Wake completed 10 passes for 126 yards.

Following the game Hilltops head coach Dave Hardy said, “One of the most gratifying things about yesterday was the fact we controlled the line of scrimmage, we ran the football, we stopped the run.  We know the Rhett Lungren’s, Kelly McNairn’s and so forth are going to make some plays but to dominate physically like we did yesterday was really gratifying.”

Fast forward to 2017 and Coach Hardy’s recipe for success sounds very familiar as both teams playing this Saturday will need to play physical, control the line and establish the run.

This game also features a pair of head coaches that have the longest tenure in the CJFL.  Both Tom Sargeant (Hilltops) and Mike LaChance (Fratmen) have coached in these big games before and will go head to head for the first time in their careers.

Kick-off for the 2017 Canadian Bowl is set for 1:00pm on Saturday at Alumni Field in Windsor Ontario.