The Bishop James Mahoney Saints (BJM) are the Saskatoon 5A Division champions.

The Saints beat Aden Bowman’s Bears 42-6 to win the city championship and book a ticket to next week’s provincial semifinal in Saskatoon against Balgonie or Moose Jaw Central.

After trailing 7-0 in the first quarter, the Saints exploded for 28 unanswered points in the second and held a 35-0 halftime lead.

The Saints would score another touchdown in the second half and win comfortably 42-6.

Donnie Davidsen is the head coach of the Saints and was proud of his team’s effort Friday night.

“You know what? It never gets old,” Davidsen said. “These guys have worked so hard. We’ve had over 40 practices – this is our ninth game, like they executed so well today today – we are so proud of them and they did a great job.

For Grade 12 students Jackson Andrews and Race Marcinkiw, the win against the Bears meant a lot after falling short the past two seasons against them in the city championship game.

“It seems unreal,” Andrews said. “Our offense just scored all those points, our defense gave the offense the ball and yeah, it was unreal. It was a great team victory.

“It means everything to us. Coming here and losing to them last year, we just wanted our revenge and that’s what we got,” Marcinkiw said. “Coach told us to be confident and do what we do best. We had a great practice before this and we were confident.

Coach Davidsen said he is excited that his group will have the opportunity to continue playing football as the calendar heads toward November.

“I always look forward to next week,” Davidsen said. “As long as we have another game, I always look forward to it.”

On the other side, the Bears found themselves with a silver medal around their neck.

“They (BJM) are a really good team,” Bears head coach Will Redl said. “We just fell behind on the scoreboard a little too quickly and didn’t take advantage of certain situations early on. It’s a good team and it’s a good program. They participate in this game every year for a reason.

Even though he didn’t follow up on his group’s city championship last year, Redl felt his team grew a lot during the season.

“I think expectations were low throughout the city coming off the season we had last year with a big group,” he said. “I think the 12th graders kind of learned how to be football players throughout the year and we outperformed at times, I think, at the end of the year. I am proud of them. They became a team.

Redl said he is excited about Aden Bowman’s young players and looks forward to continuing with the program.