Hilltops punch ticket to final following convincing win over Calgary

They say defence wins championships and the Saskatoon Hilltops made that statement ever apparent on Sunday afternoon at SMF Field in front of 886 fans.

Saskatoon’s defence forced five interceptions to lead them to a 53-2 victory over the Calgary Colts, helping punch the Hilltops’ ticket to the Prairie Football Conference (PFC) final next Sunday afternoon in Saskatoon. The Hilltops are to face the Regina Thunder in the final.

All of the Hilltops’ interceptions came from different players.

One of the five players who got a pick was fifth-year veteran Wade Keating, who returned an interception for a pick six to put the Hilltops up 20-0 with 9:05 left in the second quarter.

He was pretty excited about scoring the defensive touchdown.

“That’s the first one in CJFL (Canadian Junior Football League) history for me, so that’s pretty awesome,” he laughed after Sunday’s game. “I had some good blocks to get into the end zone too.”

Before the play, head coach Tom Sargeant apparently yelled to Keating the play was coming to him. Keating said he heard that message loud and clear.

“I heard the big man saying it. He was calling it out that it was coming to me and to be ready. It came to me and I was ready,” Keating added.

Sargeant was pleased with his club’s effort.

“It was an excellent game plan by the coaches. We have a lot of respect for Calgary, but these guys were on point today. They defended their home turf and it was fun to watch today. It was a great team win,” Sargeant said.

The Hilltops scored 24 of their first 27 points thanks to defensive turnovers.

Sargeant had nothing but praise for his defenders.

“What they’ve been doing all year is what they did today. They’re just on point and are a special group. That’s why we make sure we kick the ball off, to make sure they set the tone,” he explained. “We’re just following and going and the plays were the plays and the players made the plays. It was fun to watch.”

Sargeant was also happy to see his group’s offence get going.

“Last couple weeks we were struggling (offensively) a little bit,” he said. “There’s some good calls being made, but we got a lot of speed. Certainly, it was good to see multiple things take place and lots to build on for next week.”

The Hilltops will host the PFC final for the first time since 2019. They’ll face the Thunder, which squeezed by the Edmonton Huskies 20-17 down the highway in Regina.

Last year, the Hilltops travelled to Regina and lost to the Thunder 39-21 in the final.

When the Hilltops’ game ended, it was still unknown who Saskatoon would play, but Sargeant said it doesn’t matter.

“Bring it on! I don’t care who we play, we’re at home, we’ve won nine straight football games, the poise and confidence this team has right now is an all-time high,” Sargeant stated. “It’s playoff football, we embrace it and we’re proud to be at home next week, because we’ve earned that right.”

The Hilltops won the last meeting against Regina 19-10 on Sept. 30.

The PFC final is scheduled for 1 p.m. Sunday at SMF Field.