Comeback kids St. Joseph defeat Holy Cross in city 6A football finals

It was a tale of two halves between the Holy Cross Crusaders and St. Joseph Guardians football teams in the Saskatoon 6A city final on Friday as the two teams met in the championship game for the fifth straight year.

St. Joseph came out on top of the matchup, beating Holy Cross 38-34.

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The first half saw the Crusaders control the majority of the play by scoring four touchdowns, with three of them coming from running back and wide receiver AuLain Penner.

The Guardians managed two touchdowns of their own, one from running back Samuel LaFreniere.

Holy Cross ended the first half with a blocked punt by Penner which resulted in a touchdown for cornerback Fefe Oluwatominiyi, making the score 28-14 for the Crusaders at the half.

The second half was all Guardians, as LaFreniere turned on the jets and took over the game, scoring three touchdowns, ending the game with a total of four.

A couple field goals from Holy Cross and one from St. Joseph resulted in the final score of 38-34.

The Guardians now move on to face Regina’s Campbell Collegiate Tartans in the provincial final in the Queen City.

Guardians head coach Chad Palmer, said he was really proud of his team and their resilience.

“Never giving up is the biggest thing,” said Palmer. “The way that exchange went before (the) half where they blocked the punt on us (and) got the touchdown … this team just kept believing.”

It was LaFreniere who flipped this game on its head as he ended up rushing for over 300 yards.

Palmer said he’s been a key player all year.

“Anytime a back rushes for over 300 yards that’s probably pretty important,” said Palmer. “One of our coaches is one of the stats guys, and he’s accumulated what Sam has for stats so far this year, and after tonight he’ll be over 2000 yards rushed.”

This is the second city championship for the Guardians in the last three seasons, and Palmer said that helps them prepare for another provincial final.

“In 2022 we celebrated this and we went after Miller in the provincial final,” said Palmer. “We will treat this like any other win, and next game is just another game, because we’ve shown all year that when we prepare and we do our thing, it’s successful.”

Palmer said he left delivery of the team’s halftime message to the senior players.

Slotback Noah Yasinski said the message was simple.

“We gave a message saying ‘do it for your seniors, do it for each, we’re family and let’s go out there and get this thing’,” he said.

Yasinski is grateful he can still hit the practice field next week with his team as they prepare for the provincial final.

“It means everything, I couldn’t have that be my last high-school football game,” said Yasinski. “Just getting one more week to get the chance at provs (provincials), it’s gonna be great.”

Despite the loss, Holy Cross there were still plenty of accomplishments for the team, and head coach Tom Schnitzler said he’s really proud of his team.

“The guys battled all year, we had three tough battles with St. Joe’s,” said Schnitzler. “The guys are upset, but they gotta hold their heads up high.”

Schnitzler also thanked his senior students for helping lead the team throughout the year.

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Editor’s Note: This story was updated on Nov. 4, 2024 to correct an error. The Guardians, not the Crusaders, will move on to play the Tartans.