Edmonton Huskies

The Canadian Junior Football League (CJFL) is proud to announce their Outstanding Player Award winners for the 2025 season. The awards were handed out Saturday night at the Celebration of Excellence in Saskatoon, SK

The award winners are:

Gordon Currie Coach of the Year
Jamie Boreham – Prince George Kodiaks – he led his team to their best regular season record and the franchise’s first playoff berth.

Offensive Rookie of the Year
Running Back Sam Mustapha – Sault Ste. Marie Cougars – he won the Ontario Conference rushing title with 854 yards on 76 carries and scored eight touchdowns.

Defensive Rookie of the Year
Linebacker Chris Mattiello – Edmonton Huskies – in his rookie campaign he tallied 26 tackles, assisted on nine others, had a sack, a forced fumble, recovered three other fumbles and returned his lone interception 28 yards for a touchdown.

Special Teams Player of the Year
Place Kicker Liam Attwood – Okanagan Sun - with 13 field goals he set a new CJFL record for made field goals in a career with 76, knocked through his personal longest kick of 51-yards and accounted for 109 points this season.

Larry Wruck Outstanding Defensive Player
Defensive Lineman Jaylin Burnett – St. Clair Saints - he had a Ontario 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.

Peter Dalla Riva Outstanding Offensive Player
Quarterback Matthew Guenette – St. Clair Saints– he set a new CJFL record for completing 75.9% of his passes for an Ontario Conference high 2299 yards and set a new Conference record with 35 touchdowns for a quarterback efficiency of 163.5%.

CJFL Past Commissioners Award
Saboor Zeeshan – Calgary Colts

Rick Smoke Community Involvement Award
Hamilton Hurricanes (third consecutive season)

The 117th Canadian Bowl will kick-off Sunday November 9, at 1:00pm at SMF Field in Saskatoon, SK.

BROADCAST INFO

Watch the pay per view Canadian Bowl broadcast HERE

Prairie Outstanding Players

By CJFL Media 10/23/2025, 9:45am PDT

The major award winners on the Conference are recognized

Photo courtesy of Matthew Hamilton

The Prairie Conference announced their Most Outstanding Players and Coach of the Year for the 2025 season as a build up to the Prairie Conference final on Sunday.

Prairie Conference Outstanding Players:

Coach of the Year – Scott MacAulay – Regina Thunder – he led his team to their second straight Prairie Conference championship banner with the Conference’s best record. They clinched homefield advantage through the CJFL Canadian Bowl playoffs and will host the Conference championship game this Sunday

Outstanding Offensive Lineman – Caleb Barajas – Regina Thunder
Outstanding Running Back – 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

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

Outstanding Quarterback – Riley Element – Winnipeg Rifles – he led the Conference in completions (159), yards (2394), attempts (260) and was tied with 11 touchdowns. He completed 61.2% of his passes and had a passer efficiency rating of 79.9

Outstanding Defensive Lineman – Johnathon Stevens – Saskatoon Hilltops - he led the Conference with three sacks, had 11 tackles, 18 assisted stops, had a knockdown, forced and recovered a fumble

Outstanding Linebacker – Kyler Banfield (pictured) – Winnipeg Rifles – he led the Conference with 37 tackles and 26 assisted stops. He added two sacks, four knockdowns, forced two fumbles, and recovered a pair

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

Outstanding Special Teams Player – Charles Sawi – Saskatoon Hilltops – he was busy on Specials, returning 64 kicks this season and gobbled up 811 yards

Offensive Rookie of the Year – QB Wesley Neitz – Edmonton Huskies – he started the majority of the games for the Huskies this season and finished with a completion percentage of 56.4% after 115 completions and 1407 yards along with six touchdowns

Defensive Rookie of the Year – LB Chris Mattiello – Edmonton Huskies – in his rookie campaign he tallied 26 tackles, assisted on nine others, had a sack, a forced fumble, recovered three other fumbles and returned his lone interception 28 yards for a touchdown

Most Valuable Player – RB 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

Outstanding Defensive Player of the Year – Kyler Banfield – Winnipeg Rifles – he led the Conference with 37 tackles and 26 assisted stops. He added two sacks, four knockdowns, forced two fumbles, and recovered a pair

Outstanding Offensive Player of the Year – 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

Sunday afternoon the Regina Thunder will host the Saskatoon Hilltops, with the winner hosting the CJFL Canadian Bowl national championship on Sunday November 9, 2025.

Thunder and Hilltops Advance

By CJFL Media 10/21/2025, 10:15am PDT

The Prairie Conference final is set

Photo courtesy of Louis Christ Photography

Sunday afternoon the province of Saskatchewan celebrated a pair of Prairie Conference semifinal victories in Regina and Saskatoon. As a result, the Conference title game is set!

Regina Thunder 49
Edmonton Huskies 10

The Thunder will host the 2025 Prairie Conference championship game this coming weekend after a home semifinal victory over the Huskies on Sunday.

Whether it was offence, defence or specials, the Thunder controlled the pace of play en route to their victory. On the offensive side they had a balanced attack including 375 yards on the ground led by former Huskie Jackson Harnett who averaged 29 yards a carry and finished with 204 total with two touchdowns. Peter Boersch added another major on eight carries and 54 yards. Through the air quarterback Adam Mosher completed 10 passes for 180 yards and a pair of majors to Andrew Sweeney.

The defence held the Huskies run game to 97 yards and forced four turnovers on downs. Linebacker Kenten Effa was outstanding with four tackles, five assists, blocked a punt and recorded a sack.

On Specials, kicker Shawn Green accounted for 17 points including nailing all three field goal attempts, the longest from 28 yards out.

The Huskies did all their scoring in the second quarter. Quarterback Wesley Neitz hit William Campbell for a 21-yard strike before kicker Boaz Comeau kicked an impressive 51-yard field goal.

Speaking of Neitz, the rookie did find some success through the air completing 20 passes for 202 yards. Campbell was his favourite target making 11 receptions for 112 yards.

The Thunder advance and will host the Saskatoon Hilltops in the Prairie Conference championship game next weekend with the winner hosting the 2025 Canadian Bowl.

Saskatoon Hilltops 60
Winnipeg Rifles 26

After a 21-point first quarter, the Hilltops blew open the game in the third frame with 28 more points and cruised to the lopsided semifinal victory over the visiting Rifles on Sunday.

The ground assault was simply outstanding for the Hilltops to the tune of 380 combined yards and David Collins had himself a day. He rushed 16 times for 207 yards and two touchdowns while teammate Charles Sawi only carried three times but made them count averaging 34 yards and scored two touchdowns, including an 80-yard sprint. Corbin Ebben also scored two majors on the ground on six carries. Their lone throwing touchdown came from backup Griffin Sander in the fourth quarter finding David Boyd Jr from 29 yards out.

On the other side, the Rifles offence did collect 461 total yards primarily through the air but did turn the ball over six times. Quarterback Riley Element was good with 24 completions for 338 yards and threw a touchdown pass to Jarome Penner who caught eight passes for 119 yards. Cole Davies also had a big game with seven catches for 116 yards. Running back Kaiden Banfield was outstanding and gave the Rifles another option on the ground carrying the ball 24 times for 123 yards and two touchdowns in a losing cause.

Both defences coughed up over 460 yards to the opposition’s offence. The Hilltops “D” bent but didn’t break too often. Nathan Gallant intercepted two passes and had a team high four tackles, and Noah Chelsom forced and recovered a fumble.

Rifles’ linebacker Derek Gumieny led his club with a game high 6.5 tackles, 1.5 for a loss and forced and recovered a fumble.

The Hilltops advance to the Prairie Conference championship game and will visit the Regina Thunder next weekend to win the right to host the 2025 Canadian Bowl.