There’s an old cliche in football that says it’s hard to beat a team three times, and that’s what the Regina Thunder will have to do if they want to claim their first Prairie Football Conference crown since 2013, when they went on to win the Canadian Bowl.
Standing in the way are their provincial rival, the Saskatoon Hilltops. In fact, since the Thunder won the Canadian Bowl in 2013, the Hilltops have won six-straight national championships — an impressive streak to which the Thunder are looking to put an end.
The season series was a very tight one, with the Thunder winning both matchups by a combined total of six points.
Scott Macaulay, Thunder head coach, knows that the Hilltops will be a tough out.
“I think for us, every time we play against the Hilltops it’s a real physical battle so we got to make sure our guys are mentally and physically ready to go to battle and play the full 60 minutes. I figure that the momentum will kind of switch back and forth so we just got to make sure we stay the course,” he said.
The team is going into the game with the mindset to leave it all on the field in a win-or-go-home situation.
“We have a saying on the team, it’s called ‘burn the boat’: pretty much just throw it all on the line because you know this could be our last game,” Thunder quarterback Carter Shewchuk said.
In order to win a football game a team has to be sharp in all three of its phases: offence, defence and special teams, and for the Thunder, on defence that means working as a cohesive unit and trusting 11 other players to do their jobs.
“I got to do my job so other guys can do theirs, it’s what a defence is based off of. There’s no odd stud on our defence, everybody plays as a whole, you know. So one guy does their job, just off trust, you know,” Thunder defensive lineman Reece McCormick said.
One of the team’s unsung heroes on the season has been their kicker, Eric Maximuik, who hit a 51-yard game-winning field goal in Saskatoon. He says that when high pressure situations like that arise, he has no problems with nerves or outside noise.
“I personally feel pretty confident about going out and doing that, especially doing it again. It’s definitely one of those things in my position where you strive to be able to do those kind of things and you’re always excited when you get that opportunity, so to be able to do it again would be super exciting.”
The Thunder will look to keep their undefeated season rolling when the PFC Final kicks off this Sunday, 1 p.m. at Mosaic Stadium.
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