Darren Zary
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Phew.
That was quite a test for the Saskatoon Hilltops in the Prairie Football Conference championship final.
Not to mention quite the stress test for head coach, and 2024 heart bypass surgery recipient, Tom Sargeant, who, admittedly, was still in recovery mode Monday.
“Moving a little slow, a lot of stress,” Sargeant said a day after his team toppled the host Regina Thunder with a come-from-behind 30-27 overtime win Sunday.
“Hey, the reality of big-time games at the end of the year.”
Saskatoon needed a last-minute touchdown and two-point convert, with 31 seconds remaining in regulation time, to send the game into overtime.
Regina booted a field goal, only for the Hilltops to answer with a game-winning 24-yard touchdown pass from mid-season addition Griffin Sander to Isaiah Vallderruten.
“Even though we didn’t play well for 50 minutes, the last 10 minutes we played exceptional (football) and we were able to walk away with the trophy,” said Sargeant, whose Hilltops, fresh off Sunday’s PFC championship title, now move on to host the 2025 Canadian Bowl against the Okanagan Sun.
That game won’t be played until Sunday, Nov. 9. Game time is 1 p.m. at SMF Field in the Gordie Howe Sports Complex.
The Toppers, who took Monday off this week, were set to resume their practice schedule with sessions Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night before going full-bore next week in preparation for the 117th national junior game, which happens to be the oldest Canadian football championship.
“We’ve got a pretty good sense as to who they are — they’re a very well known program,” Sargeant said about the Sun, who knocked off the St. Clair Saints 34-19.
The 2025 Canadian Bowl will be a rematch of the 2015 national championship, which the Hilltops won 38-24 in Saskatoon.
“Because we’ve seen them before, we’ve got a pretty good reality of who they are. We certainly know who we are. It’s going to be a real tough battle, a real great football game,” Sargeant said.
This will be the fourth time these two storied franchises will meet in the Canadian Bowl. The Hilltops have won two of the first three meetings, with the lone Sun win coming 25 years ago in 2000.
“The good thing,” stressed Sargeant, “is we are at home and that certainly brings a lot of positives with it.”
To get to where they are, the Toppers needed a spirited comeback win over the reigning PFC champion Thunder.
Frankly, it was not looking so good for the visiting Hilltops.
“Absolutely (looked down and out), but it’s something about our uniforms, something about our belief system, and our great coaching staff — they just stayed with it. Every play was critical, every situation, but these are things that we have practiced all year, as well, to get ready for these moments,” Sargeant said.
PFC fans should be used to such crazy finishes that have been common place when the two provincial rivals have met over the years.
Another thrilling ending should not come as a surprise. One can almost expect it year in and year out.
For this year’s Canadian Bowl, the Sun will have to leave their grass field and milder climate for artificial turf and potentially chilly, and even snowy, conditions yet to be determined.
If nothing else, it is bound to be much colder in Saskatchewan than interior B.C. come early November.
And, this time, the Toppers will be tried and tested going in, thanks to the Thunder.
