Photo courtesy of Louis Christ Photography

The Canadian Junior Football League in conjunction with the Prairie Conference is proud to announce the 2024 Conference All-Stars and All-Rookie Team.

There are 10 positional categories and the Conference leading Saskatoon Hilltops have collected 11 All-Star selections.

The 2024 Prairie Conference All-Stars are:

Offensive Line:

Cody Shumanski – Saskatoon Hilltops (second consecutive season)
Callum Betournay – Calgary Colts
Faalii Alaimoana – Edmonton Huskies
Bjorn Nelson – Edmonton Huskies
Caleb Barajas – Regina Thunder

Running Backs:

Sadik Sadik* – Regina Thunder – he led the Prairie Conference with 10 rushing touchdowns on the strength of 106 carries and 781 yards, an average of 7.4 yards a carry

Corbin Ebben – Saskatoon Hilltops – he won the Conference rushing title with 964 yards on 157 carries, averaging 6.1 yards per carry and scored six touchdowns

Receivers:

Drake Douglas – Saskatoon Hilltops (second consecutive season) – he led the Conference in receptions (58), targets (77), receiving yards (955) and touchdowns (8)

Blaise Newberry* – Calgary Colts – he caught 34 passes for 495 yards and collected three touchdowns 

Datiel Fountaine – Saskatoon Hilltops – he was part of the All-Rookie team last year and followed up with 23 receptions for 338 yards and six touchdowns

Max Taylor – Edmonton Wildcats – he hauled in 41 receptions for 704 yards and had five touchdowns

Quarterback:

Trey Reider* (pictured) – Saskatoon Hilltops (second consecutive season) – he completed a Conference high 64.3% of his pass making 119 completions for 1685 yards and threw 17 touchdowns for a passer efficiency rating of 119.8%

Place Kicker:

Laine Santos – Edmonton Huskies – he was good on nine of his 15 field goal attempts and scored 47 points for the Huskies season

Defensive Line:

Johnathon Stevens – Saskatoon Hilltops (second consecutive season) – he tallied 12 solo tackles, had nine assisted stops, three sacks, recovered a fumble and had a knockdown

Kai Kukurudza – Saskatoon Hilltops – he led the Conference with seven sacks, had 14 tackles, eight assisted stops, three knockdowns, two forced fumbles and intercepted a pass

Will Smith – Winnipeg Rifles – he collected 11 solo tackles and 12 assisted tackles

Luke Claude – Regina Thunder – he blocked a kick, made three solo tackles, had three assisted stops, half a sack and a knockdown

Liam Sellwood – Regina Thunder – he had four solo tackles, three assisted stops and half a sack

Linebackers:

Stephen Smith – Regina Thunder (third consecutive season) – he led the Thunder with 34 solo tackles, had 20 assists, 2.5 sacks, 2 knockdowns and intercepted a pass returning it 23 yards

Isaac Michayluk – Saskatoon Hilltops  - he made 33 solo tackles, assisted on 27 others, knocked down a pass, and had an interception that he returned 14 yards

Kyler Banfield – Winnipeg Rifles – he had 39 solo tackles, 13 assisted tackles, half a sack, blocked a kick, knocked down a pass, forced and recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass

Defensive Backs:

Dalton Urban – Saskatoon Hilltops (second consecutive season) – he collected three interceptions, recovered a fumble and returned it 39 yards for a touchdowns, had 13 solo tackles, nine assists, had half a sack, had three knockdowns and even forced a fumble

Cody Anglo – Calgary Colts (second consecutive season) – he added two interceptions to his 20 tackles, 14 assisted stops and four knockdowns

Adam King – Regina Thunder (second All-Star) – he tallied 17 tackles this season along with 12 assisted tackles, had one interception, blocked one kick, forced a pair of fumbles and added two knockdowns

Keon Raymond – Calgary Colts – he shared the leaderboard with four interceptions, added 14 solo tackles, three assisted stops and had four knockdowns 

Tanner Berezowski – Edmonton Huskies – he recovered a fumble and returned it 23 yards for touchdown to complement his 27 solo tackles, seven assisted tackles and knocked down a pass

Punter:

Teijon Abel-Douglas – Saskatoon Hilltops – when called upon he averaged 30.8 net yards with each boot and recorded 39 punts over the course of the regular season

Return Specialist:

Drake Douglas – Saskatoon Hilltops – he returned 38 kicks for the Hilltops this season for 342 yards

The Prairie Conference is preparing for their Conference semi-finals this Sunday.  The #1 Saskatoon Hilltops host the #4 Edmonton Huskies, and the #2 Regina Thunder entertain the #3 Calgary Colts.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

*unanimous selection 

All-Rookie Team

Offensive Lineman
Tristen Rapchalk – Regina Thunder 

Running Back
Brody Komarnicki – Saskatoon Hilltops 

Receivers:
Saboor Zeeshan – Calgary Colts   

Quarterback:
Charlie Molder – Saskatoon Hilltops 

Defensive Linemen:
Jaeden Gayle – Calgary Colts 

Linebacker:
Kael Roszell – Edmonton Huskies 

Defensive Back:
Juven St. Hilaire – Edmonton Huskies 
 

Photo courtesy of the Winnipeg Rifles

The Prairie Conference regular season came to a close on Sunday and oddly enough two of the games featured a playoff preview.

Saskatoon Hilltops 21
Edmonton Huskies 14

Sunday afternoon the top ranked Hilltops had an uncharacteristically off game scoring just one touchdown against the Huskies in Edmonton.  

Special teams turned into a big factor as kicker Teijon Abel-Douglas connected on four of his five field goal attempts and accounted for 13 of their 21 points.  

Their lone touchdown came in the second quarter when quarterback Trey Reider hit Datiel Fountaine on a five-yard TD strike.  In all, Reider finished with only 155 yards through the air, well off his season average.   Running back Corbin Edden rushed for 190 yards on 32 carries. 

Defensively the Hilltops pitched a first half shutout and picked off two passes.

The Huskies scored all 14 points in the second half and made the game close.  In the third quarter Wyatt Matson found Cameron Coyne for a five-yard touchdown then connected with William Campbell in the fourth quarter from eight yards out for a major. 

This coming Sunday the Hilltops host the Huskies in a Conference semi-final game in Saskatoon with kick-off set for 1:00pm.

Regina Thunder 40
Calgary Colts 21

In another playoff preview the Thunder smacked the Colts by 19-points collecting 441 yards of total offence., 326 of it on the ground. 

The two-headed monster of Sadik Sadik and Ryland Leichert were virtually unstoppable with 41 carries for 282 yards with Sadik scoring three touchdowns and Leichert adding another. 

In all, the Thunder scored 20 of their 40 points in the second quarter holding down the Colts the rest of the way. 

On the defensive side they forced four Colts interceptions by four different players and kept them off the scoreboard in the fourth quarter. 

The Colts scored 14 of their 21 points in the third quarter including an 82-yard punt return for a touchdown courtesy of Antoine Barrett.   Quarterback Isaiah Klein also found Quinn Fedoroff for a major in the quarter with a 39-yard touchdown strike.  Their first score however was an impressive 51-yard TD run by Zion Dogbe-Brown in the second quarter.

These two teams will meet again on Sunday afternoon back in Regina for a semi-final with kick-off scheduled for 1:00pm.

Edmonton Wildcats 32
Winnipeg Rifles 21

The Wildcats claimed their second straight win to end the season outscoring the Rifles 12-2 in the final quarter capped off by a 51-yard interception return for a touchdown from Treyc Davies with under a minute to play. 

Their offence was led by quarterback Marcos Soltero who finished with 23 of 30 passes for 236 yards and a pair of touchdowns to Gabe Hiebert and Mekhi Tyrell. 

Defensively they forced six turnovers, none bigger than the Davies pick-six. 

The Rifles offence outgained the Wildcats and finished with a pair of rushing touchdowns from Kaiden Banfield.  He rushed 36 times for 216 yards and had the majors. 

Their defence combined for four sacks but it wasn’t enough as they fall in the regular season finale.