Saskatoon's Holy Cross Crusaders seek 1st provincial title since 1995

SASKATOON -

The 2021 Saskatchewan 6A high school football provincial championship will be played at Saskatoon Minor Football (SMF) field in Saskatoon on Saturday, where the Holy Cross Crusaders will look to win its first provincial title since 1995.

"I think it matters most which team can shake off those big plays that do have mistakes on them," said Grade 12 player Khyler Kok about the keys to victory. "I think shaking it off is the biggest part; playing play by play, and if there is a mistake, it is what is at the end of the day and you just got to keep going."

"If we all play like a team, and no small mistakes, just play like a team," said 12th grader Tyrus Flory.

"We’ve made a lot of mistakes the past few years at that level, for whatever reason," said head coach Scott Hundseth. “We’ve just go to keep our heads and play good football."

Saturday will mark the eighth time in 10 seasons that Holy Cross will compete for the provincial title. While that means eight Saskatoon city championships, it also means eight losses in the province’s biggest game, including five straight years of losses to Regina’s Leboldus Golden Suns.

"I don't think they're ever intimidated by any team that we face, Leboldus or Miller, whoever it may be, but boy oh boy we can’t make those simple mistakes because teams like that will make you pay for it big time," Hundseth said.

For the team’s Grade 12 students who didn’t get a chance to play in 2020, this game could be the biggest of their football careers.

"I feel like it’s a lot more important," Flory said. "All of us Grade 11’s that came out in Grade 12, they had a chance to get better, or if this year was their first year playing football, just being able to come out here and have fun."

The last team from Saskatoon to win a 4A or 6A provincial championship was the Aden Bowman Bears in 2009.

Kickoff is 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon.