The Regina Thunder have completed a storybook season, and brought home the ultimate prize in Canadian junior football.
The Thunder are Canadian Junior Football League champions for the second time in franchise history after rolling to a 42-21 victory over the B.C. champion Westshore Rebels in Sunday’s Canadian Bowl national championship in Langford, B.C.
It was a much tighter contest than the final score might suggest, with the two teams trading blows through three quarters before Regina took control in the fourth.
Westshore opened the scoring just 1:32 into the game, but Regina answered with a pair of Harry Case field goals to trail 7-6 after the first quarter.
Quarterback Jayden Zelionka found the end zone twice on short rushing touchdowns, helping Regina build a 21-14 advantage heading into the final quarter. The Rebels managed to tie things up once again at 21, but that would be as close as they would get.
Running back Peter Boersch broke the game open with a 33-yard touchdown run, and Zelionka added his third rushing major of the afternoon before Matthew Morris put the finishing touches on the championship victory with a 10-yard touchdown run in the final minute.
Zelionka finished with 283 passing yards and three rushing touchdowns, while Boersch put together a monster performance, carrying the ball 39 times for 281 yards.
There was also plenty of local football flavour on the championship roster, with several familiar names from the Yorkton Raider Gridders program helping the Thunder reach the top of the junior football mountain.
Yorkton Raider Gridder alumni Owen Effa, Luke Hancock, Joey Palagian, Colton Keltie and Parker German were all part of the championship team. Lemberg’s Jake Mayo and Balcarres’ Connor Behrns, both North Valley Eagles alumni, were also along for the championship ride.
Regina’s road to the national title was impressive from start to finish. The Thunder finished the Prairie Football Conference regular season with a 7-1 record before defeating Calgary 40-10 in the league semifinal and knocking off the defending national champion Saskatoon Hilltops 44-19 in the PFC championship.
They followed that up with a convincing 44-15 win over the Sault College Cougars in the national semifinal to punch their ticket to the Canadian Bowl.
The championship is Regina’s second in team history, joining its 2013 title when the Thunder defeated the Vancouver Island Raiders 55-26. They also reached the national final in 2022, falling just short in a 21-19 loss to the Okanagan Sun.
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