Different story, but same result.
For the second time in three seasons, the Saskatoon Hilltops have stopped the Langley Rams in their quest for a Canadian national junior football championship.
Two years ago, it was the Hilltops using a second-half rally to win 23-21. But on Saturday afternoon at McLeod Athletic Park, Saskatoon dominated from start to finish to capture their fourth national championship in five seasons and 17th overall.
The Hilltops led 8-7 after one quarter before adding 17 points in the second quarter to take a commanding lead.
The end result was a 39-14 Saskatoon victory.
“Langley is a physical and aggressive football team but our coaches did a good job of figuring out what we needed to do and then we went out there and did it,” said Saskatoon head coach Tom Sargeant.
“We stumbled a little bit in the first quarter, but we always kept striving to get better and do more.”
The Hilltops took advantage of their opportunities.
On Langley’s second possession, Nathan Lund coughed up the ball on his own 14-yard line. Two plays later, Hilltops quarterback Jared Andreychuk ran the ball in for the game’s opening points.
After a punt single made the score 8-0, the Rams got on the board with a touchdown catch from Malcolm Williams. Williams caught the ball from Jordan McCarty in the middle of the field and broke a few tackles before getting into the end zone.
The Hilltops made the score 11-7 and then took advantage of a McCarty interception, bringing the ball back to the Langley 30 yard line. Logan Fischer ran the ball in from 12 yards out.
Later in the quarter, the Rams were stopped for the second time in the game on a third-and-short gamble and the Hilltops made the score 25-7 at the half on a Evan Kopchynski touchdown catch.
The second half saw Evan Turkington catch a pair of touchdown passes to make it 39-7 before Williams had his second receiving major, this time from Dylan Tucker.
Tucker took over at quarterback in the third quarter after McCarty was knocked from the game.
In addition to the fumble and interception, the Rams had four turnovers on downs: two on third-and-short gambles, a fake punt and then another third-down gamble when Langley had no choice but to go for it.
“Early penalties, turnovers and inexperience for a lot of young guys in the game, and it showed,” said Rams coach Jeff Alamolhoda.
“We went up to Okanagan (in the BCFC final) with no pressure, just the fight in us. When we came out here, we were loose, but right before kick-off, I said to (one of our coaches) we had tightened up, and it showed.”
Another big difference in the game was the line of scrimmage, as the Rams had trouble getting their running game going as well as generate pressure on Andreychuk on the defensive side.
“We have had an ability all year to control the line of scrimmage and today, we couldn’t do it, and that was a factor,” Alamolhoda said.
“(But) we gained some valuable experience for the next time we are out here, and we will be (back).”
Tucker finished 19-for-22 for 232 yards while McCarty was 10-for-17 for 154 yards.
For the Hilltops, Andreychuk was 17-for-27 for 343 yards while Turkington was named offensive player of the game with five catches for 131 yards.
Williams led the Rams receivers with six catches for 134 yards.
Saskatoon’s Dylan Larson was named defensive player of the game as he had eight tackles and one assist, as well as three special teams tackles.
Brandon Klein led the Rams defence with four tackles and two quarterback sacks.
Langley’s Charles Scott and Luke Andrews each had four tackles.
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At Friday night’s Jostens banquet of champions, the Rams’ Ethan Schulz was named the national rookie of the year. Schulz had 23 tackles, 14 assist, four sacks, one forced fumble, four fumble recoveries, one touchdown and one interception during the regular season.