Week 10 is the final weekend of the Prairie Football Conference’s regular season. Going into the final four games of the campaign, playoff spots and positions are up for grabs.
The defending champion Regina Thunder control their own destiny. The 6-and-1 Thunder will host the 2-and-5 Edmonton Wildcats on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Leibel Field. A win secures Regina a first-place conference finish and home-field advantage all the way to the Canadian Bowl.
Meanwhile, the Saskatoon Hilltops host Calgary. A Hilltop win and a Regina loss would give the Hilltops the top spot in the PFC heading into the postseason.
After Saskatoon and Regina, it gets interesting. Winnipeg and the Edmonton Huskies will meet with identical 3-and-4 records. The winner of the game will secure third spot in the conference, while the loser will need some mathematical help.
Should the Calgary Colts or Edmonton Wildcats score upset wins, they will also have three wins on the season, tying the loser of the Winnipeg/Huskies game. That’s when head-to-head, head-to-head points for and against and overall points for and against will be used to determine the final playoff spot.
The Regina Thunder knows what’s at stake, and if I said to Head Coach Scott MacAulay at the start of the season a chance to clinch first place at home on the final day of regular season with a 6-and-1 record, he would have taken it.
“100 percent. At the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure how things would play out. Just watching social media and everything happening across the league, it seemed like there's more parity.”
MacAulay added, “The Edmonton Huskies and the Calgary Colts had picked up a lot of great players. We were hoping to get out of the first three weeks. At one point, I'm sitting there going, man, what happens if we're 0-3, like how am I going to manage the team? Things worked out in the end, and being six and one, we'll take it.”
The Thunder's offence has been led by running back Peter Boersch, who has run for more than 1,100 yards, and Carter Ashman, who has run for 455 yards. MacAulay says the most impressive part of his offence isn’t the rushing numbers or the offensive line's work in the run game, but keeping his quarterback clean.
“The most impressive part is that our quarterback has only turned over the ball once. Interception-wise, he's done a good job managing the game and delivering the ball when we throw it to where it needs to go. We would like a higher completion rate with the passing game, but our offence is built around our offensive line. We feel like they are the best in the business.
Defensively, Kenton Effa has racked up 29 tackles for the Thunder, but it doesn't look like many teams want to go in his direction when they're calling a play. MacAulay agrees that it shows the respect that he has earned.
“He's a special player. In the last couple of years, Stephen Smith has led our defence. It's because Stephen Smith was in the middle of the defence, but Kenton Effa was our dime. He's always towards the field side where he might get 50 percent of plays coming his direction.”
“When you're in the middle of the defence, like Stephen was, you can get involved in the play almost every single time. With Stephen's departure, Kenton Effa was moved to the inside of the defence, and he's done an outstanding job. One of his biggest traits we really like is that he's very good at tackling,” MacAulay added.
On Sunday, the Thunder will recognize their fifth-year graduating players and families. MacAulay admits that it is a special game for his program.
“It's a big deal for them to be able to walk on the field one last time during the regular season and be honoured by the organization, the fans, the staff and more importantly, the players. The young guys see this as an opportunity to go out there and play their hearts out, to allow those guys to leave the field one more time with the victory.”
“It's an opportunity for us to honour them. It's not easy for guys to play five years of post-secondary football. Guys are going to university, working full-time, and also taking classes. You may have friends who moved away, travelled, or moved on to full-time careers in other cities. These guys have stayed here, and it is an opportunity for us to honour their dedication to our organization and the game of football.”
McAulay and the Thunder need to beat the Edmonton Wildcats to clinch the top spot in the PFC, and they know what to do.
“Run the rock. That's all we're going to do. It's like what we do every week, I guess. Edmonton's interesting. They had a bit of a slow start or a hiccup in the middle and lost some games that maybe they could have won. Some athletes weren't there the last couple of weeks at the beginning of the year. Their receivers are outstanding, and they have a quarterback who has started buying into their system.”
Kickoff at Leibel Field on Sunday afternoon is at 1 p.m.
