Milligan Jr., Hus win hardware at 2024 CFL awards
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Rolan Milligan Jr. needed to be convinced by his wife to attend the CFL awards and he's happy he listened. Milligan pick...
Eric Maximuik never doubted himself.
Not even as the Regina Thunder kicker approached the huddle on the final second of the game against the Saskatoon Hilltops Saturday night with the score tied 13-13.
Maximuik stepped up, planted his tee at the 51-yard line with most of the 1,891-person crowd at SMF Field cheering loudly to disrupt his focus.
He nodded to his holder, put his right foot through the ball and watched it fly through the uprights for the walk-off victory.
“Just another kick,” a stoic Maximuik said following the longest and most timely kick of his life.
“I’ve done it a million times in practice, done it two other times in the game. Same thing, there’s not much to it for me.”
The stunned crowd at SMF Field felt the opposite. Fans in Saskatoon are more used to lopsided wins than any form of a loss.
Until that kick silenced the crowd and erupted the Thunder into a midfield celebration, the Hilltops hadn’t lost since Sept. 9, 2017 — a span of 32 games.
Too bad the calm and confident Maximuik — who had trouble with his punts throughout the second half and hit an upright on an earlier field goal attempt — was on the opposing sideline.
“I knew I had that,” Maximuik said. “I knew I hit it good, but the second I saw it going through the uprights I was not too worried about it being short. I knew we had the leg on that.”
Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay watched his team march from its own 35-yard line with under a minute left to make it happen.
Instead of gambling on third down to get even a few yards closer, MacAulay instead decided to run the clock down and call a timeout.
“We actually practiced that situation in practice,” he said of his decision to opt for the lengthy field goal.
“We were successful then and he was successful today…pretty awesome feeling.”
Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant watched from the opposite side of the field wondering how the outcome fell to the last play of the game.
“We never ever should be in this situation,” Sargeant said.
“For amateur football, this is as good of a game as you’re ever going to see.”
Regina got off to a fast start, managing a touchdown on a five-play drive, capped by a Ryland Leichert run from seven yards out.
Saskatoon answered back with a field goal on its drive to keep the score 7-3 early in the first quarter before Regina led a quick drive ending in a field goal to earn a 10-3 lead after the first quarter.
After completing one of six passes for 20 yards and an interception, Hilltops starting quarterback Doug Fleming was pulled in favour of Damon Dutton, which seemed to spark the Toppers.
Dutton strung together a quick drive that ended in a Jordan Tabin goal-line plunge to knot the score at 10-10.
A fumble by Thunder quarterback Carter Shewchuk shortly afterwards allowed the Toppers to kick a field goal for a 13-10 halftime lead.
The second half was a defensive battle from the outset.
Regina managed only 37 yards rushing while Saskatoon managed just 35 yards passing in the final two quarters.
Neither team was able to break any plays open offensively in the second half as defenders routinely met players at the line of scrimmage for short gains.
Saskatoon’s Carter McLean totaled 95 yards on 22 carries. Regina’s Justin Reiger led the Thunder with 91 yards on 19 carries.
Shewchuk finished with 245 yards on 18 of 24 pass attempts. Dutton finished with 117 yards on seven of 12 completions.
Regina was the last team to beat Saskatoon more than four years ago and now sits atop the Prairie Football Conference as the only undefeated team.
After waiting 685 days since the last Hilltops home game, the Toppers will travel to Regina for a rematch at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday.
Both coaches are already looking towards the rematch, but now the Thunder believe they can knock off the six-time national champions.
“We got a bunch of resilient dudes that aren’t going to quit,” MacAulay said. “Anytime you can beat the national champions, it’s awesome. It’s surreal right now.”
Sargeant is using this battle as an opportunity to motivate his team.
“This should be the best thing that happens to us all season. If it’s not, we’re in big trouble,” Sergeant said of the upcoming rematch.