Photo courtesy of Gord Mellor

The New Year is here and for most of us it’s a time to reset, refocus and try once again to hang onto our resolutions for the next 12 months.  For the 19 CJFL teams, preparation for the 2026 season is well underway as they hope their own New Years resolutions will help them to success by holding the Canadian Bowl trophy over their head in November.

With resolutions fresh on your mind, here is just one for each of the six teams in the Prairie Conference.

SASKATOON HILLTOPS

Rinse and repeat

The Saskatoon Hilltops won the 2025 CJFL Canadian Bowl on their home turf in a classic three-point victory to capture their 24th national crown.  This happened despite losing two games in the regular season and needing to claim a road win in the Conference final which they did in dramatic fashion.  This year they will look to repeat as champs as they have done before winning six straight from 2014-2019 and had a three-peat from 2010-2012. Regardless of who graduates from their program, the Hilltops seemingly have another player just waiting patiently for their turn to be the “next person up” as they look for a repeat. 

REGINA THUNDER

Ground and pound

All-Canadian running back Peter Boersch returns to the Thunder and will no doubt be the featured offensive weapon like he was in 2025 rushing for 1327 yards.  With the departure of Carter Ashman, the Thunder will need to find another rusher to step up when Boersch comes out of the game to keep the opposition guessing.  It remains to be seen if the offensive line will be as dominant as they were in 2025 allowing the running backs to chew up yards and score 19 rushing touchdowns.  The returning players will be very hungry after letting an opportunity to host the Canadian Bowl slip through their fingers last year.

WINNIPEG RIFLES

Add more building blocks

The Rifles opened last year with two straight wins, then won their final two games to clinch the third seed in the Conference.  They continue to lay down the building blocks and develop players to attend the Blue Bombers camp, but it hasn’t translated into winning or even hosting a playoff game.  They graduate 12 very talented players following 2025 and will need to once again find some foundational building blocks to take another run in the highly competitive Prairie Conference.  The players that do return this season will be key pieces to building strong facets of the game. 

EDMONTON HUSKIES

Step up young guns

They were one of the youngest teams in the CJFL last season led by a pair of Conference Rookies of the Year.  Quarterback Wesley Neitz threw for over 1400 yards while linebacker Chris Mattiello was named CJFL Defensive Rookie of the Year after 33 solo tackles.  These two will need to lead the rest of the youth movement and show what they learned for their sophomore season to help get the Huskies back into contention.   Head coach Marshal Klein also enters his second campaign and will no doubt be better prepared for the grueling PFC schedule. 

EDMONTON WILDCATS

Beef up the defensive line

If the Wildcats want to get back to the Canadian Bowl playoffs, they will need to find some big bodies to beef up in the trenches on the defensive line.  Of their five graduates following the 2025 season, four of them are from the defensive line including All-Star D’Wayne Williams who had 27 solo tackles and 12 assists in his final year.  They also lose Dreyden Schlecht, an emotional leader on and off the field that meant so much to their club on the D-Line.  This will need to be a main focus in 2026.

CALGARY COLTS

Take care of the football

Last season the Colts themselves were a large part of their undoing by not being able to protect the football coughing up a Conference high 49 turnovers including 17 interceptions, 16 fumbles and 16 turnovers on downs.  They finished with a -23 in takeaway-giveaways.  They certainly have the pieces to be competitive in the Prairies, but they need to cut down on turnovers, something new interim head coach Reyd Kessler will no doubt focus on during the offseason.
 

Photo courtesy of Matthew Hamilton

The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is proud to announce the FIRST-Team All-Canadians for the 2025 season.

Offensive Line
Kaiden Kerntopf – Okanagan Sun (second consecutive season)
Caleb Barajas – Regina Thunder (second consecutive All-Canadian)
Thomas Ta’Avili – St. Clair Saints
Johnny Fazio-Raposo – St. Clair Saints
Jack Erlandson – Saskatoon Hilltops 

Receivers
Cameron St. Kitts Park – St. Clair Saints (second consecutive All-Canadian) - he led the OFC in receptions (56), receiving yards (760) and scored nine touchdowns

Marselio Mendez – St. Clair Saints - he hauled in 30 receptions for 611 yards and led the Conference with 11 touchdowns

Zion Brown – Westshore Rebels - he had a CJFL high 1039 receiving yards on 69 receptions and tied a CJFL record with 18 touchdowns

Jarome Penner – Winnipeg Rifles (pictured) - he led the Conference with 794 receiving yards on 40 receptions and tallied three touchdowns.  He averaged 19.9 yards a catch

Running Backs
Peter Boersch – Regina Thunder – he won the Conference rushing title with 1327 yards on 174 carries and four touchdowns averaging 7.4 yards a carry

David Collins – Saskatoon Hilltops – he carried the rock 126 times for 1028 yards and a Conference high 13 touchdowns, averaging 8.2 yards per carry

Quarterback
Matthew Guenette – St. Clair Saints – set a new record for completing 75.9% of his passes for a Conference high 2299 yards and set a new record with 35 touchdowns for a quarterback efficiency of 163.5%.  

Punter
Teagan Good – Quinte Skyhawks – he booted a Conference high 49 punts, averaging 34.6 yards and tallied a pair of singles

Place Kicker
Shawn Green – Regina Thunder – he led the Conference with 83 points.  He booted a Conference high 17 field goals, knocking through 81% of his kicks.

Defensive Line
Jaylin Burnett – St. Clair Saints (second consecutive season) - he had a Conference high 11 sacks to complement his 28 tackles, 18 assisted stops, forced a fumble, recovered three fumbles, one for a touchdown and made 17.5 tackles for a loss

Johnathon Stevens – Saskatoon Hilltops – (second consecutive All-Canadian) he led the Conference with three sacks, had 11 tackles, 18 assisted stops, had a knockdown, forced and recovered a fumble

JaQuintis Summers – Okanagan Sun – recorded 12 sacks, 17 tackles, 9 assists, forced a recovered a fumble 

Jarveon Williams - Okanagan Sun – he collected 11 sacks, 14 tackles, returned a fumble 55-yards for a touchdown, knocked down four passes and forced a fumble

Linebackers
Kyler Banfield – Winnipeg Rifles - led the Conference with 37 tackles and 26 assisted stops.  He added two sacks, four knockdowns, forced two fumbles, and recovered a pair

Andy Ofosuhene – Valley Huskers - he had a Conference high 47 tackles, added 14 assisted stops, 2 sack, 1 interception and 2 knockdowns

Clay Ritschard – London Beefeaters - he had 39 solo tackles, eight assisted stops, four sacks, intercepted a pass, forced a fumble and recovered two other fumbles

Defensive Backs
Raiden Mastin – Valley Huskers (second consecutive All-Canadian) - he tallied three interceptions returning one for a touchdown, two sacks, 38 tackles, five assisted stops, five knockdowns and forced a fumble

Tariq Brown – Okanagan Sun - led the Conference with seven interceptions, returning two for a touchdown, had 19 tackles, 5 assists, added a sack, 3 knockdowns, forced a fumble and recovered one

Brandon Vecchio – St. Clair Saints - he intercepted four passes and returned three of them for touchdowns, knocked down three passes and made six tackles

Cooper Filazek – Regina Thunder - he had three interceptions, six tackles, and two knockdowns

Teagan Good – Quinte Skyhawks - he had another great season intercepting three passes, blocked three kicks, forced and recovered a fumble, had 20 tackles, assisted on five others and had a knockdown

Return Specialist
Marselio Mendez – St. Clair Saints - he returned 22 kicks during the regular season and averaged 24.8 yards with each return.  He also returned two punts for touchdowns adding to his impressive stats.