Saskatoon Hilltops buck Colts to remain undefeated

The Saskatoon Hilltops wasted no time separating itself from the Calgary Colts en route to a dominating 53-6 victory at SMF Field Sunday.

Taking to the field for the first time since a last-minute win against the Regina Thunder on Sept. 7, Saskatoon put the game away early with 24 points in the opening quarter against a beleaguered Colts team.

“The last couple games we’ve been slow out of the gates,” Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said. “I was much happier with the way we were playing, the polish and how we looked.”

The Hilltops extended its unbeaten streak to 24 games with the win and remain atop the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) standings with a 5-0 record that included spending three games on the road to begin the season.

Sargeant was happy to move on from that tough stretch of games and utilize the bye week.

“We needed a break, it was a tough front end schedule,” he said. “We were fresh today. It was just nice to see. We saw some good fundamentals today on the field that we’re pretty happy with.”

Some of those good fundaments were shown by defensive lineman Jesse McNabb.

In what’s become a Hilltop tradition, McNabb lined up as an eligible reciever on a goal line formation from the 4-yard line to slip away from coverage and score his first touchdown since attending high school in North Battleford more than four years ago.

He even had a night to think about it, but didn’t lose sleep thinking about.

“I got told on Saturday that play was coming,” McNabb said. “I knew I was going to get yelled at either way. I thought I better catch the ball.”

Sargeant admitted his intentions of getting a lineman a touchdown every year.

“We like to reward those guys that do the heavy lifting, the unnoticed work,” Sargeant said.

That score would put the Toppers up 17-0. Saskatoon would continue to overpower the Colts and take advantage of a few penalties for a 41-0 lead at the half.

From that point, Sargeant was able to rotate players through the lineup and get some valuable experience.

“I think that’s one of the reasons we’ve had a lot of success in the past is we keep developing. You can practice all you want, but you go out in the game and realize it’s a different level. We got to play everyone on this roster today,” Sargeant said.

The Hilltops finished with more than 300 yards rushing and passing in the game.

Tyler Hermann was the leading passer with 222 yards, completing 17-of-25 passes for three touchdowns and two interceptions. Ben Abrook led all rushers with 17 carries for 152 yards.

Saskatoon will play the Edmonton Huskies on the road next week, before returning to SMF Field for the final two weeks of the season.