LeBoldus Golden Suns once again capture provincial title

The LeBoldus Golden Suns are once again shining brightly, claiming their first provincial title since 2016.

LeBoldus defeated the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders 28-15 at Mosaic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The Suns were led on offence by running back Ryker Frank, who accumulated 138 yards on the ground and 102 yards receiving along with a touchdown catch.

“I can’t believe this right now,” Frank said following the win. “I’ve said this before — I wasn’t leaving this field without a win. I’ve put everything (into getting to this moment). The last three years have all built up to this.”

The game got underway an hour later than the original start time due to snow on the field that needed to be cleared.

“The field conditions were outstanding,” said LeBoldus head coach John Foord, who’s in his 29th year of coaching at the school. “It took a little while to get it cleared but they did the right thing.”

The last time the Golden Suns won the title, it also came in a game against the Crusaders. LeBoldus won the 2016 showdown 47-29.

“They’re unreal,” said Holy Cross head coach Scott Hundseth, whose squad was facing off against the Golden Suns once again in his 13th season as the Holy Cross head coach. “You make a mistake against LeBoldus, they make you pay.”

Hundseth said he was proud of the season his team had.

“They battled hard, made a couple mental errors that we don’t usually make that are freaking us out right now but that’s the game of football,” Hundseth said.

Foord said it’s gratifying to send off the Grade 12 students with a provincial title.

“They’ve been with us for a lot of years, they’re deserving. They’re leaders in our school and our community,” Foord said. “We’ve said that championships aren’t given, they’re earned and these guys definitely earned it this year.”

While both teams eventually f0und success on the offensive side of the ball, it was all defence throughout the first half.

LeBoldus was only able to get points from two field goals by kicker Kaeden Brennan. Meanwhile, the Crusaders got on the scoreboard after LeBoldus elected to give up a safety.

Frank got the offence for the Golden Suns going in the second half with a 52-yard scamper in the third quarter. That ended with quarterback Christian Fischer running it in from a yard out.

Fischer finished the game with two passing touchdowns as well, one to Frank and one to slotback Ethan Marshall.

Holy Cross’ two touchdowns both came from quarterback Talawa Mudasia, who found slotback Noah Fleming twice for touchdowns.

The LeBoldus defence picked off Mudasia three times in the game.

Frank, who won a gold medal with the Team Saskatchewan U-18 football team this season, said it was amazing to win a title with his high school teammates.

“We’re brothers out here and we all did it for each other and it’s better than everything else,” Frank said.

Provincial title results

• Eatonia defeated Kerrobert 63-48 in the 1A six-man provincial championship game
• Hafford defeated Wynyard 86-20 in the 2A six-man provincial championship game
• Indian Head beat Notre Dame 14-6 in the 3A nine-man provincial championship game
• Melfort defeated Martensville 51-15 in the 4A nine-man provincial championship game
• Yorkton Regional downed Saskatoon Bishop Mahoney 31-23 in the 5A 12-man provincial championship game