While the Hilltops had defeated the Edmonton Huskies — the team they will now meet in the Prairie Football Conference semifinal Sunday afternoon (1 p.m., SMF Field) — it was a one-score margin of victory, 21-14.
Tom Sargeant was as mad as he’s ever been.
He certainly let his players know he was not happy.
You could almost see steam coming out of his ears when he left the Saskatoon Hilltops’ team meetings and film study earlier this week.
His face was flushed.
His mood was far from jovial.
It was plain to see he was angry, and clearly not satisfied with the team’s most recent win.
Sure, the Hilltops had defeated the Edmonton Huskies — the team they will now meet in the Prairie Football Conference semifinal Sunday afternoon (1 p.m., SMF Field) — but it was a one-score margin of victory, 21-14, and in his mind, the Toppers had underperformed badly.
When it came to the media, however, Sargeant was little more diplomatic in his assessment.
“The Edmonton Huskies are as physical as any team we’ve played all year,” he said. “They’re coached well. They come out and play hard, physical football like we do. And they match up well with us. We know what we’re doing. This is going to be the third time we’re playing them all year. So that’s going to be a real battle.
“We’ve got to have a great week of practice and execute the game plans and play our best game of the year. That’s what I know and I’ve got a lot of respect for who the Huskies are and how they play, and you know what? They showed us how bad they want to compete against us on Sunday. That was a one-possession game, no question about it.”
Said Hilltops’ veteran safety Dalton Urban: “Just a few plays that we need to clean up, mental errors, mistakes on the field. We needed to get back into the film room this week and learn from those so we can play better Sunday. We’ve got to stop the run early — that’s always a big thing on our defence — and limit those big plays and then get those turnovers, really get the ball in the hands of our offence to put points on the board.”
The Edmonton Huskies finished the regular season with a 3-5 record, getting outscored 159-184.
The Toppers defeated the Huskies 38-13 earlier in the PFC season-opener back in August at SMF Field in Saskatoon.
The Hilltops know they’ll have to be at their best to avoid an upset.
“We need to play a lot tougher, more physical, and a lot smarter too,” said rush end Kai Kukurudza. “I think we’ll get a better pass rush because he (Huskies quarterback Wyatt Matson) doesn’t do good against pressure. If we can get there quick, and put some good hits on him early, we can really mess him up.”
The Hilltops offence will need to get going and the defence will need to tighten up.
“What we’re seeing is a lot of teams are choosing not to throw deep and pick on the linebackers a little bit on the (second) level,” noted defensive coordinator Jeff Yausie. “That’s what we saw last weekend in Edmonton and our zone coverage wasn’t great at times and, at times, our blitzing and man-coverage (weren’t up to par) too.
“We’re coaching hard and trying to figure it out and become better and (last Sunday) was a game that will help us get better because they stressed us out a little bit. It was closer than what we wanted. But that’s good in football. You’ve got to deal with stress and adversity and get better.”
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