'We’re not playing to our full potential': Saskatoon Hilltops hope to turn things around after rare back-to-back losses
Despite losing back to back games, Saskatoon Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said it’s no time to panic.
"You know what, this is old hat, we've been here many times before,” Sargeant said as the team began practicing Tuesday night.
You have to dig back many years to find the last time the Hilltops were on the practice field after two straight losses.
"Following them after high school, I haven't seen them losing three games, let alone even two games in a row. So this is pretty big, but it's a good humbling moment for us,” running-back Carter Mclean said.
Adding salt to the wound, both losses came against their provincial rivals, the Regina Thunder.
Now the Hilltops are hoping to avoid losing their third straight game and falling below .500.
"It's my job to find the right players and put them in the right spots to do the right things, and we have to become more consistent so, were excited for what's in front of us,” Sargrant said.
"We've been making stupid mistakes and you know, we gotta work hard at practice and just get better. We're not playing to our full potential yet," line-backer Konnor Johnson said.
The coach said that means getting back to fundamentals.
"We are going focus on blocking and tackling. As you see were going to be in full pad all week and were just going to focus on the basics,” he said.
There's been a changing of the guard at quarterback as Damon Dutton took the reigns from Doug Fleming, and posted a whopping 82 percent completion rate.
"To try not to get to high on highs and try not to get to low on lows, just try to stay rather neutral. And I think that by doing that were not throwing other guys off. And were not bringing the wrong energy," Dutton said.
Saskatoon's defence has been bend-but-don't-break, allowing just over 20 points a game, which is third best in the Prairie Football Conference.
The Hilltops will be back at home this Sunday to face the Winnipeg Rifles, a team that dating back to 2014, the Hilltops have beaten 16 straight times.
But if they lose, they would fall below .500 for the first time in seven years.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.