Hilltops charged up for PFC final against Thunder

The Saskatoon Hilltops are hoping history repeats itself.

In 2021, Saskatoon lost a pair of PFC games to Regina as the Thunder went undefeated in the regular season. The Hilltops got their revenge in the conference final, though, downing the host Thunder 29-9 for their seventh straight league title.

In 2022, Saskatoon again lost the teams’ two regular-season meetings as Regina again went undefeated. On Sunday, the Hilltops will try to avenge those losses when the PFC final is played (1 p.m., Mosaic Stadium).

“Last year, as this year, they’ve been the premier team in our league, so we’re looking forward to the challenge of playing this week,” Hilltops tailback Boston Davidsen told The Green Zone’s Jamie Nye on Friday.

“I’d say the experience of last year’s win is that if we put the right mindset into this game, there’s no one we can’t handle.”

The Hilltops went 5-3-0 in the 2022 regular season, with the three losses coming in consecutive games. Those defeats included a 29-21 loss to the visiting Thunder on Sept. 10 and a 23-7 setback Sept. 17 at Mosaic Stadium.

But the Thunder can’t match the Hilltops’ championship pedigree in the PFC — it has just one league title to its name — and Saskatoon can lean on that experience Sunday.

“That’s how success has been measured for the Hilltops in their history is by championships,” Davidsen said. “Although we did not have the regular season we were looking forward to or we were expecting, we’re happy with how we’ve bounced back after we took those losses in the middle of the season (and) we’re building some momentum.”

The Hilltops won three straight games to end the regular season and then beat the Edmonton Huskies in a semifinal. That run has given Saskatoon some momentum entering the league final.

“We’ve got a lot of confidence now, we’ve really worked on our mindset, we have a lot more belief in each other than we did at the start of the year, and we’re looking to showcase that,” Davidsen said.

The Hilltops also have head coach Tom Sargeant, who has won 13 Canadian junior football championships in his 25 years at the helm. His experience could play a factor Sunday.

“The biggest influence of having him around is he expects winning and he expects the best from us …,” Davidsen said. “He looks for us all to leave it all out on the field and if we do that, he can be happy with us.”

Sargeant must have been happy with Davidsen’s play in 2022.

The fourth-year Hilltop rushed 149 times for 1,037 yards and seven touchdowns in eight regular-season games before adding 28 carries for 114 yards and a TD in the semifinal victory.

“That accomplishment (of rushing for 1,000 yards in a season), as much as it’s attached to my name, it really is a team accomplishment,” Davidsen said.

“If you just put me out there one on 12, I’m probably getting -1,000 yards on the season. You need those other guys out there, the receivers blocking for me, the O-line blocking, passers that can open up the field and coaches who allow me to have the opportunity to make plays.”

Davidsen won’t go head to head with Thunder tailback Ryland Leichert, but the Hilltops star did tip his cap to his opposite number for his showing in a semifinal victory over the Winnipeg Rifles.

Leichert rushed 52 times for 390 yards in Regina’s 23-14 win in horrid conditions at Leibel Field, setting PFC and CJFL playoff records for carries and rushing yards in a game.

“I heard the conditions were pretty unideal for throwing the ball, so that means you’ve got to lean on your running back — and he definitely answered the call for that,” Davidsen said. “It’s an impressive milestone …

“That’s something you can’t just brush off, especially as we’re watching the film of that game getting ready for this weekend.”

Weather conditions are expected to be better Sunday, so Regina could go back to relying on its passing game. The Hilltops, meanwhile, will try to have a balanced attack — and they could use Winnipeg’s game plan as a basis for their own scheme.

“Watching (the Rifles) and seeing how they were able to find some success in those conditions, we’re trying to look at that and build off that as we plan for Sunday,” Davidsen said.