Jaime Lammerding
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
The Regina Thunder evened the score, and more.
The head-to-head may be even, but the Thunder picked up a key 24-21 victory over the Saskatoon Hilltops on Saturday at Saskatoon Minor Football Field to move them into the No. 1 spot in the Prairie Football Conference standings with a 6-1 record
“We had a bit of slow start there at the beginning, but our guys got around each other and they made a lot of plays and they made some plays when we needed to make some plays,” said Regina’s head coach Scott MacAulay.
The Hilltops, who drop to the No. 2 spot with a 5-2 record, found the end-zone first with quarterback Brexton Elias capitalizing on a Thunder fumble by finding Isaiah Valldererruten on a 19-yard pass four minutes and five seconds into the opening quarter.
Regina followed that up shortly after the quarter’s midway point with their own major, when Jackson Harnett found a gap and ran for a 72-yard touchdown, tying the teams at seven.
That tie carried through until the final minute of the second quarter when the Thunder added two scores.
First, a 35-yard field goal with 51 seconds left. And then a 17-yard touchdown pass from Adam Mosher to Andrew Sweeney after the Hilltops were intercepted, giving Regina the 17-7 lead heading into the locker room.
Stout defensive play by both teams prohibited further scoring until Hilltops running back David Collins scampered into the end-zone on a four-yard rush midway through the fourth quarter, decreasing their deficit to 17-14.
With less than four minutes left in the game, a 34-yard interception return for a touchdown by Regina’s Jake Mayo gave the visitors their final score of the evening and a 24-14 lead, which was cut to 24-21 when Collins added another one-yard touchdown for Saskatoon less than a minute later.
Saskatoon was marching the ball down the field in the final minute, attempting to get into at least field-goal range, but the Toppers were once again cut short by a Regina interception — the fourth of the night for the Thunder.
“At the end of the day, I got out-coached, I didn’t put my players in good enough spots,” said Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant. “I love how hard they competed and they stayed positive right through the very end, so we had a chance at the end.”
Both teams put up solid offensive numbers, with the Hilltops recording 173 yards on the ground and 240 yards in the air, while the Thunder passed for 117 yards and rushed for 247.
Regina’s ground game was led by Peter Boersch who tallied 129 yards on 24 carries bringing him to 1,117 yards on the season.
The Thunder also won the turnover battle with four interceptions and one turnover on downs, compared to the Hilltops’ single fumble recovery and turnover on downs.
“Last week, we struggled a little bit on defence, so our guys rallied back and they stayed focused at practice, so I’m happy to see that they were able to rise to the occasion,” said MacAulay.
Both teams are now turning their attention to their last respective games of the regular season and the potential playoff implications.
“I’m looking forward to looking at game film and how I can improve this football team so that we don’t have to deal with this [losing] feeling again. That simple,” said Sargeant.
Should the Hilltops win their final game against the Calgary Colts and the Thunder lose their last game against the Edmonton Wildcats, the two teams would hold the same 6-2 record as well as an even spread in their head-to-head, 39-39. Additional tie-breaking rules would then be utilized to determine who finishes atop the standings.rticle content
Of course, the Thunder aren’t planning to leave it up to a tie-breaker to determine their fate.
“We’ve got to win so that we can stay at home for the rest of playoffs and take care of business that way,” said MacAulay of his team’s final game. “And then, for us too, we’re a pretty young team so we just gotta keep on working hard and getting better with each practice and I think we’ll be even better the next time we play.”
TOP-UPS: With the head-to-head score tied at 39 for the two-game season series between the Hilltops and Thunder, this is the first year that the Shriners’ Trophy will be shared by both teams.
