The last time the Saskatoon Hilltops and Okanagan Sun linked up for a Canadian Bowl national championship game on Nov. 7, 2015, it was the Hilltops coming out on top to win it all on their home field.
Nearly 10 years later to the day, the Hilltops are aiming for history to repeat itself in the 117th Canadian Bowl at SMF Field in Saskatoon on Sunday.
“We’re excited to keep representing the great blue and gold tradition,” said Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant. “What a worthy opponent in front of us, I think Okanagan has been in the Canadian final two of the last three years. They know what they’re doing and they got a good plan of how to do it, so we know we got to come out and play our best game of the year.”
The Hilltops will be playing for their 24th Canadian Junior Football League championship in franchise history Sunday, while getting the opportunity to win a national championship on their home turf with the Prairie Football Conference hosting the 2025 Canadian Bowl.
Preparing to play his final game as a member of the Hilltops, star defensive lineman Johnathon Stevens said it’s time to put everything they’ve built this season into four quarters against Okanagan.
“It’s the biggest week of the season,” said Stevens. “We just got to do whatever we can do to win that game. They’re a good opponent, we got to give them our best and we got to prepare the best that we can. Otherwise, what are we doing?”
The Hilltops have clawed their way to host the Canadian Bowl after an up-and-down regular season by their standards, suffering a pair of losses to finish as the second-seed entering Prairie Football Conference playoffs.
A dominant win over the Winnipeg Rifles in PFC semi-finals and a remarkable comeback over the top-seeded Regina Thunder in the conference championship has put the Hilltops one victory away from glory.
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Now, they’ll prepare for their toughest test of the season against an Okanagan side which comes into the Canadian Bowl with a perfect 13-0 record highlighted by a 34-19 victory over Ontario’s St. Clair Saints in CJFL semi-finals.
“It feels unreal but I’m glad we’re here and we finally made it,” said Hilltops receiver and defensive back Isaiah Vallderruten. “In the beginning of the season coach drilled this into our heads, now we’re finally here to compete.”
Saskatoon’s spot in the national championship game came as a result of a wild fourth quarter in the PFC final, trailing 24-9 at one point before Vallderruten hauled in a pass which would tie up the title game with the Thunder following a two-point conversion with 31 seconds left.
A missed field goal on the final play of regulation would send the game to overtime, where Vallderruten would again step up as PFC final hero with a touchdown reception to walk off the game on Saskatoon’s first possession.
“I had to catch it because I was open,” said Vallderruten. “I thought [quarterback Griffin Sander] was going to lead me, but he threw a perfect pass in between the defenders and I had to haul it in.”
According to Sander, he didn’t immediately know the result of his throw over the middle to Vallderruten and had a delayed response before celebrating with his teammates.
“I didn’t actually see if [Vallderruten] caught it or not,” said Sander. “He was kind of hiding, so I didn’t really know until everybody started cheering. I looked over at the sidelines and everybody was running towards the field, so it was a pretty special moment.”
The Hilltops have platooned their pair of quarterbacks in Sander and Brexton Elias over the post-season, a trend which Sargeant expects to continue against the reigning British Columbia champions.
It’s a game plan he says helps open up their entire offence and keeps opposing defences on their toes.
“We need both of them to win,” said Sargeant. “Ultimately, we got two different game plans to try to fit into their skill sets and we get to decide when we want to use it and how we want to use it. It just has created more versatility, flexibility to our offensive package which I think makes us more difficult to defend.”
Saskatoon has not hosted the Canadian Bowl since 2018 when the Hilltops won their fifth of six consecutive titles, 58-21 over the Langley Rams.
Practicing at SMF Field this week ahead of their biggest game of the season, Stevens is wanting to go out on one final win alongside a group of teammates who have become family.
“It’s a brotherhood,” said Stevens. “I love every one of these guys here and I’d put my life on the line for them. Football, it’s a very connection-based sport and you get to know a lot of people. We just have to believe one more week and just go from there.”
The Hilltops and Sun will kick off the 117th Canadian Bowl at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
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