The Creighton Kodiaks ended their season with a nice victory, winning 69-8 against Ahtahkakoop and ensuring that the northern league title will be fought for on their home field.
The Kodiaks got on the board very early, with a passing touchdown and two-point kick making it an early 8-0 Creighton lead. After an Ahtahkakoop three-and-out, Jaxon Smith crashed into the endzone for another touchdown. Another Ahtahkakoop three-and-out later, Noah Olivier ran in for a third touchdown on the Kodiaks' first play of the series. Three plays later, Olivier scored again, this time intercepting a pass and running it all the way back for a Creighton pick-six.
Three more unsuccessful Ahtahkakoop downs gave Creighton the ball back, with Carson Straile this time making a long catch-and-run on the Kodiaks' first play back, though a kick afterward was blocked. On the next set of downs, Leland Feuerstein picked the Titans' QB off and ran the ball back into Ahtahkakoop's half of the field. Myles Patterson pounded the ball into the endzone, with the Kodiaks scoring one point after on a fake kick run play.
Ahtahkakoop fumbled the ensuing kickoff, leading to a Kodiak recovery and another Creighton touchdown, as Patterson got his second TD of the day on a long reception in the rain. The kick was snapped high and unsuccessful, giving the Kodiaks a whopping 51-0 lead before the first quarter was even over.
The clock was kept running after the initial onslaught and the scoring rush died down. The Kodiaks, with a win more or less assured - in games against Cumberland House and Creighton earlier this year, the Titans had scored two combined touchdowns - put their second-string players into the game. The second-stringers shut the Ahtahkakoop defence down at the Creighton 20 yard line, leading to an eventual Olivier touchdown on a third-down play, making it 57-0 at half.
Ahtahkakoop did get on the board early in the first half, getting a rushing touchdown from quarterback Keshawn Dee. With the clock on run-time, Creighton ate up time, with linebacker Brenden Haley - playing rare offensive downs - running the ball in for a fourth-quarter Kodiak touchdown. On the last play before the clock ran out, Kodiak Brayden Eyres took a handoff to the house after breaking some tackles, getting Creighton's 10th touchdown of the day. An unsuccessful kick at the final whistle made the score Creighton 69, Ahtahkakoop 8.
The win confirms that Creighton will play at least two more games this season and that all games the team does play will be on home turf. The Kodiaks will host the Ralph Pilz Trophy game at home on Creighton's Oval of Dreams field Oct. 23, playing the Cumberland House Islanders from Charlebois Community School. In the two teams' sole game this season, Creighton came out with a 68-20 win on the Kodiaks' home field.
No matter how the league title game turns out, the Kodiaks will also play a provincial conference game at home Oct. 30. Creighton, considered a 2A program by the Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association (SHSAA), will play the top 2A team in the SHSAA Conference 8 - the Shellbrook Aardvarks, who have a 4-1 record this season. According to the SHSAA's six-man football conference bracket, if Creighton beats an out-of-league opponent in a conference game - which no northern team has ever done - it would host any further games, including possible provincial semi-finals or finals if the Kodiaks keep winning.
The Kodiaks also have a 4-1 record, but have not technically lost a game - the sole blemish on the record is from the team's season-opening game against Senator Myles Venne being cancelled, leading to a forfeit. Counting the 7-0 forfeit loss, the Kodiaks will end the regular season with 285 points for and 41 points against - 20 of which came from the Cumberland House game.
