The opponent is established and now the work begins.
The sa国际传媒 Football Conference-champion Westshore Rebels will face the traditionally strong and two-time defending national champion Saskatoon Hilltops in the Canadian Bowl on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at Westhills Stadium.
Saskatoon outlasted the Calgary Colts 43-31 on Sunday afternoon to advance to the Canadian Junior Football Championship final for the sixth time in the last seven years.
Saskatoon has won an incredible five of the last six Canadian Bowls.
The Hilltops smashed the Victoria Rebels (as they were then known) 59-0 in the national championship back in 2003, the only other time the locals have advanced to the CJFL title game.
鈥淚 equate them to the University of Alabama in the U.S. They鈥檙e just really strong everywhere, incredibly coached and they are just a machine,鈥� Rebels head coach J.C. Boice said of the Hilltops. 鈥淚 felt that Okanagan Sun team last year was unreal. And they [the Hilltops] ended up beating them by two touchdowns 鈥� and the Sun was ahead at halftime.
鈥淭hey have a system,鈥� Boice added of the Hilltops. 鈥淚t鈥檚 like an American program 鈥� very good player support services and the results are on the field. They don鈥檛 make mistakes. We have our work cut out for us.鈥�
There were, however, a few mistakes on Sunday against the Colts, who are coached by Matt Blokker. (Blokker led the Rebels to that 2003 BCFC title before capturing three national crowns with the VI Raiders.)
On Sunday, Saskatoon did allow those 31 points and surrendered 468 yards in net offence to the Colts, while racking up 344 of their own.
鈥淚f you said we鈥檇 get 43 points in this game, I鈥檇 sign up every time,鈥� Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant told the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. 鈥淏ut I鈥檓 disappointed that I see 31 [against], too. We鈥檝e got to get better. We鈥檝e got to coach better.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud that we can live for another week and we can coach better and they can play better. I can鈥檛 wait,鈥� he said of advancing to yet another national final. 鈥淲e move to our ultimate goal that we set every year that our fifth-years leave as champions, and they did enough [Sunday] to get it right.鈥�
Last year, the Hilltops defeated the Sun 鈥� then led by current Rebels associate coach Shane Beatty 鈥� 38-24.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e physical, well coached and they don鈥檛 make many mistakes, mentally or physically,鈥� Beatty said. 鈥淏ut I will say this: We鈥檙e very physical up front as well, obviously, running the ball well the way we do with Jamel [Lyles] and Trey [Campbell].
鈥淭he fact that our offensive line is big helps us. Their defensive line is athletic. I watched them play the Sun and, yes, they dismantled them,鈥� Beatty said of Saskatoon鈥檚 58-2 thrashing of the Sun in a cross-over game this regular season.
鈥淏ut we could have put up 55 on the Sun as well. We鈥檙e capable of putting up lots of points.鈥�
Westshore downed the Sun 32-21 in Saturday鈥檚 BCFC championship game.
鈥淲e're going to have to play our best game of the year and I鈥檓 going to have to make some changes on defence, again. We鈥檒l have to stop their run and play a little more man-to-man [defence],鈥� Beatty said.
鈥淭o be honest, we have the horses here. The difference is our secondary is young, as with the Sun, we had a secondary that had been there for awhile. I learned some mistakes that I made in this game last year that I have to fix, and it won鈥檛 be a problem,鈥� he said.
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