Saskatchewan blanks Manitoba 38-0

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This article was published 20/05/2025 (209 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Caden Gienow of Lumsden scored three touchdowns and Brodie Taylor of Melfort had two as Saskatchewan blanked Manitoba 38-0 in the annual Sask-Toba Challenge Cup at Neelin on Monday.

That gives a Saskatchewan in a 4-1 lead in the inter-provincial series, which began in 2019 but wasn’t held in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic.

“It was just an awesome experience to come out here and meet all these guys and just play a really good game,” said Gienow, a Grade 12 student who is making the jump to the Regina Thunder of the Canadian Junior Football League’s Prairie Football Conference. “We got the result we were looking for and it just feels really good right now.”

The game started about as badly as it could have for the hosts, who fumbled at their own 34 yard-line just 37 seconds into the game. In the nine-man game, gambling on third down is common and on third-and-six, Saskatchewan quarterback Logan Morrison carried the ball down to the six. Penalties went each way on the next two plays before Gienow punched it in to give Saskatchewan a 7-0 lead.

“Our D going out there and getting a fumble right off the bat was huge for us,” Gienow said. “Just for our offence to come out as a unit and carry us and get a touchdown was really big to start a game and it definitely helped us moving forward.”

It quickly became evident that the visitors were stingy defensively, with Manitoba struggling to get anything going.

“Unfortunately, Saskatchewan has solid defence,” Manitoba head coach Jim McEwen said. “It was really tough to get things going against these guys. You can’t hide things, you need to have solid plays. Their defensive scheme was working and the offence couldn’t punch the ball through, and when we did, it was bad penalties at bad times and we had lots of injuries that were mounting up too.”

The flags were an issue for both clubs, although it’s worth noting both provinces play fall schedules.

“You have to remember all these kids haven’t played for probably six months so there were lots of penalties,” Saskatchewan head coach Bill Ruetz said. “And there is a rivalry between our two provinces and it gets a little heated at times.”

Saskatchewan widened the lead 7:36 into the second quarter when Taylor went wide to score on an 11-yard run.

The visitors took a 13-0 lead into the half.

“That was tough,” McEwen said of the early touchdown. “You know we’re playing a good team and Saskatchewan is going to take advantage of that. I was hoping we could stop them and stall them. They got that one score right away and literally only got one more score the rest of the first half. I thought our defence was playing really well but our offence wasn’t gelling the way we wanted it to.” The visitors blew the game open in the first five minutes of the third quarter, starting with a 57-yard touchdown run by Gienow that came just 61 seconds into the second half, and with a two-point convert, gave Saskatchewan a 21-0 lead.

“He has breakaway speed and lots of moves and he can make a lot of things happen, sometimes out of nothing,” Ruetz said of Gienow. “Our line did a good job on his big run and he exploded and hit that line hard and he was gone. It was beautiful.”

Four minutes later, Taylor hauled in a 19-yard touchdown pass, and with a single off the ensuing kickoff that went through the end zone with the benefit of a stout east wind, the score was suddenly 29-0.

But more importantly, Manitoba’s Cruz Davis of the St. Vital Mustangs went down, and there was a long delay as the two training staffs attended to him and then paramedics took him away by ambulance.

Early in the fourth quarter, Manitoba running back Fola Fashola was nabbed in the end zone off a reverse for a safety and after a long drive, Gienow caught a short pass on third and six to make it 38-0 with 2:21 remaining.

“The biggest thing was our defence,” Ruetz said. “It kind of dominated and just took away anything that Manitoba had. Then we just needed our offence to quit making mistakes and make a few plays and things worked out well for us. We had that huge run by Gienow that made a huge difference for us.”

In the previous games, Manitoba earned a 44-33 decision in 2024 after losing 51-14 in 2023, 24-16 in 2022 and 22-0 in the inaugural 2019 game. Prior to 2019, Saskatchewan played an all-star game against a team from North Dakota.

The Manitoba squad comes from the 11 teams in the Rural Manitoba Football League — including Moosomin — while Saskatchewan’s players are Grade 12 students from the 21 teams in the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association football league. McEwen noted that things could have spiralled out of control but he was impressed with his team’s tightness as they weathered a tough day at the office.

“Our camaraderie was really, really good, even midway through the third when things started falling apart,” McEwen said. “We were trying to pull back and the team was still pulling together. That was a big thing. These guys literally became a brotherhood and it was really great to see.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com