Thunder, Hilltops prepared for historic PFC final

The Saskatoon Hilltops and Regina Thunder are set to meet for one final time in the PFC title game Sunday.

The provincial rivals are meeting on unfamiliar terms. Rather than the championship road running through Saskatoon — as it has for much of the last two decades — the Hilltops are driving to Regina to defend their six-straight PFC and Canadian Bowl titles.

Regina has added confidence after sweeping the regular-season provincial series with some thrilling last-minute victories, first, a 30-27 win which snapped the Hilltops’ 33-game winning streak that dated back to 2017 and then a 16-13 win the week later.

Toppers head coach Tom Sargeant loves the idea of a challenge.

“I think we’ve come a long way from where we were. The reality is, we know their players, they know our players and there’s not a lot of things to hide. It’s just going to come down to execution, protecting the ball and who wants it more,” Sargeant said.

Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay has long lived in the shadows of the Hilltops, suffering plenty of agonizing defeats during the Hilltops’ current run. He sees this year’s undefeated 8-0 season as another sign of where the program stands.

“The Saskatoon Hilltops are the benchmark of the CJFL or of amateur football in Canada. Even as an organization, they’ve got a fantastic facility and scholarships available for their players and the traditions. It’s something that I know that we’re building to,” he said.

“Having the opportunity to play against them again in the PFC final is just an opportunity for us to take another step forward and I’m excited to definitely compete this weekend.”

Sunday’s final will be the first time the Thunder have hosted a PFC championship game since Regina’s squad rebranded as the Thunder in 1999.

“I love it when we have both teams from Saskatchewan able to play each other in the environment that we’re going to be in. They’re always hard-hitting, classic games. The score is going to go both ways. One moment they’re going to be up, one moment we’re going to be up,” MacAulay said.

With only six points separating the teams in the regular season both MacAulay and Sargeant know a potential classic is brewing.

“It’s exciting,” Sargeant said. “We’re coming there to come out and have a great game plan, execute it and play our best game of the year.”

Being one of the best sports rivalries in the province, there is no opponent each team would rather face. Saskatoon is riding a 21-game playoff winning streak into the game. The last team to beat them was the Thunder in the 2013 final (21-16). Had Regina not beat them then, this would be the Hilltops’ run at an 11th straight Canadian Bowl.

“All I know is this: Tom Sargeant is going to have all his players ramped up, ready to go and wanting to play a physical game,” MacAulay said.

“There’s no surprises here, right? I’m sure he’s not happy about those first two games and they’re going to have a bunch of reasons why we did come out on top. The bottom line with our guys right now is it has been years that they’ve been on top and our guys are going to be ready to come to battle.”