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Winning three consecutive championships in any league is impressive, but winning five straight in a junior league is unheard of.
Yet that’s what the Saskatoon Hilltops accomplished Sunday at SMF Field with a 28-9 win over the Edmonton Huskies in the Prairie Football Conference final.
Fifth-year Hilltops linebacker Cody Peters had trouble believing it happened to him.
“It feels unreal — something out of a dream,” he said following the win. “I couldn’t ask for anything more than just to have this.”
The win won’t rank as the team’s most impressive victory of the season. The Toppers endured an unusual scoreless drought that lasted nearly two quarters on Sunday, with quarterback Jordan Walls throwing a couple rare interceptions to keep the team out of scoring range for most of the second and third quarters.
“At the end of the day, it’s the playoffs, you just move forward, move on,” Sargeant said after winning the Toppers 20th PFC title since 1976.
“That’s what the Hilltops do.”
The Hilltops were lead by Josh Ewanchyna’s three running touchdowns, while the Huskies struggled to gain any momentum, scoring four points on three Hilltops turnovers in the first half.
Sargeant knows what it would mean to win a record fifth consecutive Canada Bowl championship. Not just for his players, but for the program he’s spent more than 30 years building.
“That tells you so much about this group of coaches, this group of players, this group of men,” he said.
“Five in a row? Think about that. That don’t happen anywhere.”
Saskatoon will now have to wait three weeks before hosting the Canadian Bowl on November 17 at SMF Field.
Usually the game is held a week earlier, but a schedule change this season is putting Sargeant in uncharted waters.
“I’ve never gone through it, but one of our gifts is we’re a pretty experienced coaching staff to figure it out,” he said about the long layoff. “If anyone’s going to get it right, it’s my coaching staff.”
“We’ll sort it out and figure out how to make it happen.”
