The Regina Thunder defeated the Saskatoon Hilltops 24-19, winning the Prairie Football Conference championship and ending the Hilltops undefeated season.
"I said last night, I can't believe I got out of work this morning," Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay told the SportsCage while laughing. "It was getting pretty late there for a while, I had to shut 'er down. It was a slow start to the day, but now we're wrapping up."
This was the third match-up Regina had with the Hilltops in 2024. The other two times, the Thunder lost 36-11 and 29-15 during the regular season.
"The last two times we played the Hilltops, we should have given a better showing. We mentally beat ourselves as the game progressed, MacAulay said.
"We made it way harder on ourselves than we needed to. We had some missed field goals -- definitely would have helped. We also had an interception, but the very next play, we fumbled right back to the Hilltops. Those things are going to happen."
Regina's running game was effective against Saskatoon. The Thunder racked up 321 rushing yards, Sadik Sadik rushed for 178 yards and scored two touchdowns while Ryland Leichert tallied 118 yards on the ground.
"There's actually a third person that's been in the mix, the fullback and that's been a blessing," MacAulay said about Connor Allen. "We got a guy that likes to hit guys and drive them into the ground."
Allen was initially a linebacker who came from Luther College High School in 2022, but MacAulay decided to convert him to fullback.
"He went over there and he's been outstanding," MacAulay said. "He makes me look good like I made the right decision."
Regina's next opponent is the Okanagan Sun in the Canadian Junior Football League Semi-Final on Sunday. The Thunder last played the Sun two years ago when the PFC team lost in the Canadian Bowl 21-19.
"There are a lot of guys, including myself, that are happy to get another opportunity to play them," MacAulay said. "We know that they have great athletes, they're going to be a great team and they're well coached. We have to prepare that it's going to be that way, make sure that we get that mindset right this year and take advantage of it."
