As the calendar is set to turn and 2025 is on the horizon, the CJFL remembers some of the top moments from 2024.

The biggest story of the year happened in the final game when the St. Clair Saints snapped a 25-year drought and hoisted the Canadian Bowl with a 37-22 win over the visiting Okanagan Sun.  The Saints capped off a brilliant season in the Ontario Conference and won on the national stage for the first time since 1999, when, oddly enough, they hosted and beat the Sun.  For some added flare, the game was played at night for the first time in recent memory.  

For several years when a team from the BC or Ontario Conferences went to the Prairies, they would leave with an unfavourable score.  However, the Okanagan Sun have changed the narrative in their last two trips including the 2024 CJFL National Semi-Final game.  This season they traveled to Regina, like they did in 2022 and left victorious. This year’s win was just the sixth time a team from BC went to the Prairie Conference and won. They played a very balanced game, and were able to beat the Thunder 28-14 and advance to the Canadian Bowl.  In 2025, the national championship will be back in the Prairies.  

Okanagan Sun running back Elelyon Noa rewrote the record books in the BC Conference setting a new single season rushing record out west.  He galloped for 1612 yards in the regular season, beating the Jamel Lyles (Westshore Rebels) old mark of 1604 yards.   His 1612 yards puts him fourth all-time in the CJFL record books and it should be noted that in four playoff games he added 289 more yards in his season output for 1901 yards in 14 games. 

The St. Clair Saints proved once again that the old adage of “defence wins championships,” reigned true as the Saints collected their first national title and the Ontario Conference’s first in 25-years.  Their defence was simply incredible recording four shutouts and allowing an average of 4.25 points a game.  They matched the outstanding defensive performance of the Langley Rams in 2021 in which they also played eight games and gave up four points a contest.  The Saints were loaded with All-Canadians and All-Stars, which was on full display during the Canadian Bowl forcing five turnovers and, holding arguably the CJFL’s best rusher Elelyon Noa to just 64 yards on the ground and kept him out of the end zone.

Speaking of the Saints, their quarterback Maurice Sodja had one of the most incredible individual performances we have seen in CJFL history from that position.  He not only could burn teams with this arm strength and accuracy, but give him a small laneway to run, and he would kill teams with his legs.  Throwing the ball, he would complete 68% of his passes, averaging over 12 yards a completion, gained 1499 yards, averaging over 187 yards a game and threw for 20 touchdowns.   On the ground he averaged 10.1 yards each carry, gaining 624 yards, an average of 68 yards a game and scored 11 touchdowns.  When you combine the two numbers, Sodja averaged and accounted for 265 offensive yards each game.   His talents were on full display during the Canadian Bowl and was named the Offensive Player of the Game passing for 249 yards and had a touchdown while also rushing for 122 yards and added three more majors, truly a spectacular performance. 

All three Conferences once again saw the first-place team finish undefeated. 

In Ontario the St. Clair Saints were 8-0 during the regular season and outscored their opponents 61.5-4.25

In the Prairies the Saskatoon Hilltops were a perfect 8-0 during the regular season and averaged 40.6 points a game while only giving up 13.2.

Over in the BC, the Okanagan Sun were unblemished at 10-0 outscoring the opposition 39.2-13.7.  Their only loss of their entire season came at the Canadian Bowl. 

The 2024 season was indeed memorable with several outstanding individual and team performances setting up what should be another incredible year in 2025 as the CJFL will play the 117th Canadian Bowl national championship on the Prairies on Saturday November 9, 2025.