Sarah Mills: Birthdays bring a sense of wistfulness and nostalgia
Sarah Mills says getting older isn't for the faint of heart, and turning a year older can make a person think about youn...
It’s taken 13 years, but the Regina Thunder are once again national champions.
The Prairie Football Conference champions went out to B.C. and defeated the Westshore Rebels 42-21 thanks to three fourth-quarter touchdowns to claim the 188th Canadian Bowl. It’s just the second time the Thunder have won the Canadian Junior Football League national championship, the first coming back in 2013.
“Just a sense of relief to be honest,” said head coach Scott MacAulay. “To be able to win the big game and for my coaching staff. I’m just proud of them and at the end of the day, everyone is just working so hard all year round so to finish it off this way is huge.
“For myself, it has been 13 years but 13 years ago my kids were in the stands watching. Today, I was with them on the sidelines going to battle with them. It was awesome,” MacAulay said.
His sons, Matthew and Chase, are linebackers for the team.
“It’s a big deal to win it with them,” MacAulay said. “I look back at my whole family — my mom and my dad and all the support they have given the Thunder going back to 2000. Being married and my wife and kids allowing me to coach football back there in 2010 and being the head coach in 2013 and them allowing me to do that and be along for the ride and knowing how much time and sacrifice it takes is a big deal for them to actually be on the field here and doing this with me.”
Regina was led by quarterback Jayden Zelionka, who scored three times on the ground, and running back Peter Boersch, who seemed to get positive chunks of yards almost any time he touched the football.
“I’m feeling so many different types of emotions but happy is the big one,” Zelionka said. “As soon as we won it, I went up to our captain Ben Walz and me and him had a big hug and big talk. It means the world to those guys and all the other fifth years in this program that were fortunate or unfortunate to play in this game. It means everything to all of them and I’m so happy that I’m the one to be able to bring this trophy back home.”
MacAulay said it’s amazing to see all the players get rewarded for their hard work with a national championship win.
“These guys have worked their butts off since January and you go through all the highs and lows of the offseason and during the season and to have this experience with them is amazing,” MacAulay said.
Zelionka had 283 passing yards in the game.
Boersch was named the Offensive Player of the Game after rushing for 281 yards and a touchdown. That’s the second-most in Canadian Bowl history. In total, the Thunder rushed for 329 yards.
“I couldn’t be more proud of this team and more grateful to work together,” Boersch said. “We don’t even have to plan to run the football because we just know we are going to do it. It’s an investment. You don’t start with chunk plays and gashes. You build up, you wear them down and our guys work incredibly hard to be in great shape and be physical and our discipline takes over in that third and fourth quarter and that’s just part of the system here.”
Boersch wasn’t on the team in 2022 but played with a lot of players who were on that team that lost the Canadian Bowl in Regina.
“I saw how it ate them alive every day. It’s something you don’t get a chance to do often enough,” Boersch said. “It’s just amazing. We have so many coaches and supportive members of the community and management and stuff like that and they all do everything possible to advance this team just to see us lift the trophy at the end of the year and we finally got to make good on it.”
The Rebels got out to an early lead in the game, only needing two plays to score the game’s first touchdown as Zion Brown, the Canadian Junior Football League’s leading receiver, caught a long touchdown pass from Anthony Cancellare to put the Rebels up 7-0 early.
Regina was pinned deep in their own end after a penalty on the convert attempt but put together a good drive as the Thunder got on the board with a field goal by Harry Case. The Thunder once again got closer to the Rebels with another field goal.
In the second quarter, quarterback Jayden Zelionka rushed it in from two yards out as Regina pulled out to a 13-7 lead.
Read more:
- Rams headed to Hardy Cup, eliminate Huskies 39-27 in Canada West semifinal
- Regina turf work sparks debate over Mosaic Stadium field use
- U of S Huskies women’s basketball team to raise another U Sports banner
Case missed on a 48-yard field goal but the ball went out the back of the end zone for a single point.
Cancellare once again got help with some big plays as Kwame Franklin caught a bomb from Cancellare. The next play, Brown got in behind the Thunder defence and hauled in his second touchdown of the game to tie things at 14 with just over a minute left in the first half.
“It just shows our resilience is unmatched. We are not going to go down without a fight. The first drive of the game, it took them two plays to get down there and score but we fought back and kept fighting,” Zelionka said. “At halftime, it was tied up at 14, and then at the end of the game, we were dominant in the second half with how resilient and gritty we are.”
In the third quarter, the Thunder came out and used a powerful run game with running back Peter Boersch to help go down the field as Zelionka scored his second rushing touchdown of the game to go up 21-14.
Thunder defensive back Marcus Butz recorded the game’s first turnover as he picked off Cancellare.
Westshore tied things up in the fourth quarter to set up a thrilling finish.
The Thunder were able to take back the lead quickly after that thanks to a Boersch score.
Owen Effa helped stop a Westshore drive late in the game as he picked off a pass.
Zelionka scored his third rushing touchdown of the game late in the fourth quarter to clinch the win for Regina, while running back Mathew Morris scored another touchdown to go up by 21.
“I think just being how close it was in the third quarter, we knew in the fourth quarter that it was time to turn on the jets and take this thing away,” Zelionka said.
In order to reach the Canadian Bowl, the Thunder knocked off the Saskatoon Hilltops in the PFC title game and then defeated the Sault Ste. Marie Cougars in the semifinal game.
