Canadian Junior Football League

Photo courtesy of Louis Christ Photography

CJFL Commissioner Jim Pankovich has demonstrated an incredible amount of leadership during the COVID-19 crisis and has been named the 2020 CJFL Stewart MacDonald Executive Of The Year.

Starting from the very early days of the pandemic, Jim had envisioned the difficult path that was before us and began to strategize and approach to deal with the situation.

Jim’s calm, cool, and measured approach kept the Canadian Junior Football League on track to making a difficult decision based on a tremendous amount of information from multiple sources. The outcome ultimately wound up being the best decision one could make for the safety and well being for the athletes, coaches and entire CJFL.

The Commissioner spent hundreds of hours, talking with experts, politicians, doctors, CFL football executives and a multitude of CJFL members throughout the country in the early stages of the pandemic.  Jim had developed a primary plan as well as many multi leveled and layered contingency plans and was able to present these to stakeholders in a matter that had led to the consistent buy in and ownership of all the parties involved.

His in-depth analysis and planning put the CJFL in a place where the league moved methodically forward while maintaining an optimistic view for what was to come. Timelines were developed for primary and secondary strategies, input was requested and documented and thoroughly discussed with all the key stakeholders allowing for educated thought through debates and decisions.

Although the cancellation of the 2020 season and the Canadian Bowl was not the desire of anyone, when it came time to make that decision everyone was confident that the league had viewed and analyzed all angles and the best decision for the safety of the whole was made. Despite the gravity of this decision the CJFL holds the belief that we are still in a strong position to succeed going forward and faith or optimism has not been lost for future seasons. This was accomplished only because Jim’s complete dedication and commitment to ensure no stone was left unturned before a decision was made. His desire and professional, positive attitude was the glue that held the CJFL executive together throughout this challenging time.  

The CJFL did not react hastily nor erratically when it came time to cancel the 2020 season. Jim epitomized the old-World War II mantra of “stay calm and carry on.”

Jim has won this award previously in 2015, and it is a testament to his extreme ability to lead our league that he is awarded the Executive Of The Year five years later. Many have discussed that with Jim Pankovich at the vanguard of this crisis, we were never in a position of defeat but in a position of growth and evolution of the game of junior football in Canada.

Photo courtesy of AllSportMedia.ca

The Saskatoon Hilltops and Langley Rams have met four times this decade in the Canadian Bowl, the Hilltops winning all four meetings including back to back in 2018 and 2019.

The first time they went head to head was in 2012 and the game became a CJFL Canadian Bowl Classic.  It was played in Langley on November 10th and with a massive second half the Hilltops came back to win 23-21.

After a scoreless first quarter the Rams would break the tie in the second frame as quarterback Greg Bowcott hooked up with Malcolm Williams on a 16 yard strike.  However the lead was short lived as the Hilltops would come right back on their next drive finished off by Zach Schmidt and an 18 yard field goal. 

Eight minutes later Schmidt again would kick another field goal, this time from 32 yards out to bring the Hilltops within one.

Before the end of the half Bowcott connected with Michael Patko for a 73 yard catch and run for a touchdown and the Rams led at halftime 14-6.

Coming out of half the Rams kept pouring it on, just four minutes into the third running back Daniel Xavier would punch it in from a yard out to extend their lead to 21-6.

On their next possession however the Rams started to come unglued.  Nick Downey fumbled which completely changed the momentum of the game.  Mike Waldron recovered the fumble and returned it to the five yard line before Hilltops running back Andre Lalonde scored their first touchdown on the very next play making the score 21-13.

Then in the fourth, Schmidt connected on his third field goal from 30 yards out before quarterback Matt Karpinka found Graham Unruh for a 40 yard catch and run for a touchdown.  That gave the Hilltops their first lead of the game, one they would not relinquish.

Unruh made six catches for a game high 208 yards and a major and was named the Offensive Player of the Game.

Karpinka finished with just six completions for 123 yards and a score.  He would platoon with rookie Jared Andreychuk who finished 4 of 11 for 69 yards.

Defensively the Toppers were led by the Defensive Player of the Game Dylan Kemp. He tied a Canadian Bowl record with 11 solo tackles.  Prairie Conference Defensive Player of the Year that season was Ben Cressman who finished the title game with five solo tackles and had an interception.

The victory was the Hilltops 16th national championship which at that time moved them one head of the Regina Rams for the most national titles in Canadian Junior Football League history.

Each of the next three Hilltops-Rams national title games has been equally exciting, but the game in 2012 stands out as a Canadian Bowl Classic.