Article content

When asked what he would remember fondly from his five seasons with the Regina Thunder of the Prairie Football Conference, veteran center Max McFadden instead looked to the future with wistfulness.

“I hope so,” said McFadden, whose team is preparing for a Canadian Junior Football League semifinal Sunday against the BC Junior Football Conference champion Okanagan Sun. Game time is 1 p.m. at Leibel Field. The winner qualifies for the 115th Canadian Bowl, which will be hosted on November 9 by the Ontario champion.

Article content

Regina and Okanagan last met in the 2022 Canadian Bowlwon 21-19 by the visiting Sun. The Thunder earned their presence this year by beating the Saskatoon Hilltops, reigning Canadian champions, 24-19 in the PFC final. Saskatoon had eliminated Regina in each of the last two seasons.

“I’ve had guys that I played with, my closest friends who graduated, say to me, ‘Is it a bit of a revenge tour this year?’ ” said McFadden.

“Oh, sure.”

With linebacker Stephen Smith and running back Ryland LeichertMcFadden is one of a handful of frontcourt players remaining on this 2022 team, coached by current head coach Scott MacAulay.

“We have a match full of emotions against the hillsthat we know, and then Okanagan, which we’ve faced once before,” MacAulay said. “They’re in a different conference, so we don’t know much about them and the vibe is different, so we’ll definitely use that as a building block.

“And there is redemption.”

While Regina placed second during the PFC season with a 6-2 record, Okanagan ranked atop its conference with a 10-0 record.

Article content

Article content

Regina’s offense is led by the two-pronged rushing attack of Leichert and Sadik Sadik — who totaled 296 rushing yards against Saskatoon — and anchored by a linebacker corps of Smith, Mitchell Tanchak, Kenten Effa and Zach Cloutier.

“A lot of times we’ve used (Leichert and Sadik) separately,” said McFadden, who is usually flanked by guards Caleb Barajas and Tristen Rapchalk and tackles Nolan Finn and Eric Boyd. “When we have them together, it’s kind of a two-headed monster. We also had great receivers when we had (quarterback Carter) Shewchuk and (slot guard) Isaac Foord, so having two really good running backs is a different game than we’ve seen over the past few years. of the last four years.

“We’re watching and Caleb is yelling, ‘Run the ball!’ Let’s run the ball! “Yeah, we want to throw the ball.

Led by middle linebacker Jacob Bond, the Sun allowed just 13 points per game while the offense was paced by record-breaking defensive end Elelyon Noa, who led all CJFL rushers and set a conference record with 1,612 yards and 23 touchdowns on 216 carries.

McFadden is a product of Campbell Collegiate. He won a provincial football championship as a Grade 10 student on a team coached by his father Tim McFadden, who also played center, and was named the conference’s top offensive lineman when the Rams Regina won the 1993 Canadian Junior Championship.

Article content

“You look at the BC league and (Okanagan) has won a lot of awards,” McFadden said. “They run different programs that we haven’t necessarily seen here.

“It will be a match where the team that wins will make the fewest mistakes.”

The Regina Leader-Post created a Afternoon titles newsletter that can be delivered to your inbox daily so you’re up to date with the most important news of the day. Click here to subscribe.

With some online platforms blocking access to the journalism you depend on, our website is your destination for breaking news, so be sure to bookmark it. leaderpost.com and sign up for our newsletters so we can keep you informed. Click here to subscribe.

Article content