Regina Riot set to challenge for third straight WWCFL championship

The Regina Riot will be going for its third straight championship on Saturday, when it takes on its rival, the Saskatoon Valkyries.

Aly Bell is on the Riot’s offensive line, and she said the rivalry has been around since before she joined the Western Women’s Canadian Football League team.

“There’s great players on both ends, great coaches on both ends, so it has always been a great matchup when we play them,” Bell said on the Greg Morgan Morning Show.

The Riot started the season a bit shaky with two straight losses, but Bell said the team managed to come back. It split its final two regular-season games and then won back-to-back playoff games to reach the final.

“We saw what we were doing wrong, saw what we needed to work on,” she said. “We focused and got dedicated in practices and just worked our butts off to get back to where we needed to be.”

The team had some coaching and player changes this season, and Bell said it took some time to come together. She was quick to say the rookies are great and really stepped up.

“Learning the chemistry with all of us and learning the chemistry with the new coaches, it has taken some time but it has been awesome, and I think we’re at where we need to be now,” she said.

As for the game on Saturday afternoon, Bell said the quality of play is so high in women’s football these days.

“There’s so many elite players on both sides of the ball, it’s a great game to watch,” she said. “Everybody who comes is surprised at the level of competitiveness and the level of football that we actually play.”

The Riot and Valkyries used to be the big teams in the league, but competition is getting better. Bell said it sucked that the Manitoba Fearless beat the Riot this year — a 34-9 decision on May 5 — but that excited her because it means the game is growing.

The WWCFL final is to be played Saturday, 4 p.m., at Mosaic Stadium.