Photo courtesy of Victor Pankratz

The Prairie Conference announced their Most Outstanding Players and Coach of the Year for the 2023 season as a build up to the Prairie Conference final on Sunday.

The Prairie Conference Outstanding Players for 2023 are:

Coach of the Year – Tom Sargeant– Saskatoon Hilltops - he led the Hilltops to an undefeated regular season and now home field advantage throughout the Prairie Conference playoffs.

Outstanding Offensive Lineman – Riley Schick – Regina Thunder  

Outstanding Running Back – Boston Davidsen – Saskatoon Hilltops – 170 carries for 1184 yards and 9 touchdowns

Outstanding Receiver – Nicholas Sirleaf – Calgary Colts – 45 receptions for 739 yards and 8 touchdowns 

Outstanding Quarterback - Trey Reider – Saskatoon Hilltops – 108 of 167 for 1571 yards and 16 touchdowns.  He completed 65% of his passes

Outstanding Defensive Lineman – Riece Kack – Saskatoon Hilltops – 11 tackles, 7 assisted tackles, 7.5 sacks, 1 knockdown, 2 fumble recoveries

Outstanding Linebacker – Stephen Smith – Regina Thunder – 43 tackles, 30 assisted tackles, 1 sack, 1 blocked kick, 1 fumble recovery

Outstanding Defensive Back – Cedric McCallum – 23 tackles, 5 assisted tackles, 3 knockdowns, 3 fumble recoveries with one for a touchdown, 3 interceptions 

Outstanding Special Teams Player – Roy Tambal Musa – Winnipeg Rifles – 2 missed field goal returns for 145 yards and a 112-yard touchdown return, 7 kick off returns averaging 28 yards with one return for a touchdown of 90 yards, 10 punt returns averaging eight yards 

Offensive Rookie of the Year – OL Yohan Medina – Calgary Colts

Defensive Rookie of the Year – DL Liam Sellwood – Regina Thunder 

Most Valuable Player – Boston Davidsen – Saskatoon Hilltops – 170 carries for 1184 yards and 9 touchdowns

Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year – Stephen Smith – Regina Thunder – 43 tackles, 30 assisted tackles, 1 sack, 1 blocked kick, 1 fumble recovery

Outstanding Offensive Player of the Year – Boston Davidsen – Saskatoon Hilltops – 170 carries for 1184 yards and 9 touchdowns

Sunday the Saskatoon Hilltops will host the Regina Thunder, with the winner hosting the CJFL National Semi-Final game next weekend. 

The CJFL is pleased to announce the Week 11 Players of the Week across the country.

Offensive Players of the Week

Prairie Conference
QB Caine Harrison – Calgary Colts 

The Colts had their most explosive offensive output of the season on Thanksgiving Sunday scoring 66-points and quarterback Caine Harrison played a major role throwing four touchdown passes on 18 completions and racked up 382 yards.

BC Conference
QB Te Jessie – Westshore Rebels

It was a record setting game for Te Jessie, etching his name in the CJFL record books throwing four more touchdown passes increasing his season total to 38 setting a new single season record for touchdown strikes, surpassing the old mark of 35.   He finished Saturday’s game 13 of 17 for 249 yards and those four TDs.  He has one more regular season game to add to is new record. 

Ontario Conference
RB MJ Doyle-Marshall – St Clair Saints

While playing sparingly on Saturday, Doyle-Marshall made the most of his opportunities as he carried the ball seven times for 63 yards and two touchdowns and even hauled in one pass for a 54-yard touchdown.  He would average 14.6 yards per touch to go along with his three touchdowns on the day earning his second OFC player of the week award this season.

Defensive Players of the Week

Prairie Conference
LB Derek Gumieny – Winnipeg Rifles

Despite the loss in Saskatoon, Derek Gumieny of the Rifles was all over the field.  He finished the game with a sack, eight solo tackles, three of which for a loss, had an assisted stop, forced and recovered a fumble.

BC Conference 
DL Jaiden Claassen – Valley Huskers

Saturday night the Valley Huskers defence frustrated the Kamloops Broncos offence keeping them to limited yardage.  Jaiden Claassen was seemingly always pressuring the quarterback and ball carriers.  He finished with two sacks, four solo tackles and two assisted tackles in their seventh win of the campaign.

Ontario Conference 
LB Burkely Banilevic – Quinte Skyhawks

Continuing his season long trend for taking down ball carriers, Burkely Banilevic did his part in trying to slow down the Saints running game.  He contributed 13 tackles, eight of which were solo stops and one tackle for loss for an impressive 21 defensive points.  This is his second defensive player of the week award this year.

Special Teams Players of the Week

Prairie Conference
PK James Keane – Calgary Colts

With the Colts scoring 66 points on the weekend, kicker James Keane was busy and most likely had a sore foot following the game.  He connected on all five field goal attempts, his longest from 37 yards away and was a perfect 7-7 in coverts.  He added nine kick-offs for a total of 330 yards.

BC Conference
LB Bryce Reuther – Westshore Rebels

With the Rebels clinching first place and homefield advantage throughout the entire CJFL Canadian Bowl playoffs on the weekend linebacker Bryce Reuther made sure of that on Special Teams.  He made two solo tackles and assisted on two others.

Ontario Conference
DB Nick Baeini – St. Clair Saints

In helping to seal the dominant win over the Skyhawks the Saints defensive back not only recovered his team's short kickoff but then raced to the end zone for a touchdown.  The recovery was Baeini’s third fumble recovery of the season tying him for the OFC lead in that category.