BJM defeats Aidan Bowman to win 5A city championship

The Bishop James Mahoney Saints (BJM) are the division 5A champions for Saskatoon.

The Saints defeated the Aidan Bowman Bears 42-6 to win the city championship and book a ticket to next weeks provincial semi-final in Saskatoon against either Balgonie or Moose Jaw Central.

After going up 7-0 in the first quarter, the Saints exploded for 28 unanswered points in the second and held a 35-0 lead at halftime.

The Saints would go onto score another touchdown in the second-half and win comfortably 42-6.

Donnie Davidsen is the head coach for the Saints and was proud of the effort his team put forward on Friday night.

“You know what? It never gets old,” said Davidsen. “These guys have worked so hard. We’ve had over 40 practices – this is our ninth game, like they executed so well today – so proud of them and they did a great job.”

For Grade 12 students Jackson Andrews and Race Marcinkiw, the win over the Bears meant a lot after they came up short the last two seasons against them in the city championship game.

“It feels unreal,” said Andrews. “Our offense just scoring all these points, our defence giving the offense the ball and yeah it was unreal. It was a great team win.”

“This means everything to us. Coming out here and losing to them last year – we just wanted our payback and that’s what we got,” Marcinkiw said. “Coach told us to be confident and we do what we do best. We had a great practice coming into this and we were confident.”

Coach Davidsen said he’s excited that his group has the opportunity to keep playing football as the calendar flips to November.

“Always looking forward to next week,” Davidsen said. “As long as we get another game, I’m always looking forward to that.”

On the other end, the Bears were left with a silver medal hanging around their neck.

“They (BJM) are a very good team,” said Bears head coach Will Redl. “We just kind of fell behind on the scoreboard a little too quick and didn’t take advantage of some certain situations early. They’re a good team and it’s a good program. They’re in this game every year for a reason.”

Despite not following up on his group’s city championship last year, Redl felt that his team grew a lot over the season.

“I think expectations were low across the city for them coming off the season we had last year with a great group,” he explained. “I think the Grade 12’s kind of learned how to become football players throughout the year and we over exceeded I think at times by the end of the year. I’m proud of them. They became a team.”

Redl mentioned he’s excited about the young players Aidan Bowman has and is looking forward to keeping the program rolling.