Hilltops need a punter
The Saskatoon Hilltops have been left scrambling to find a new punter.
One by one, a handful of players took turns booting the ball Thursday night as the Toppers searched for a suitable replacement for injured Rylan Kleiter, who is hobbling around on crutches and out longer term.
“You bet — it’s open season (for auditions),” Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said as he watched his troops prepare for a Canadian Junior Football League Prairie Football Conference game Sunday afternoon against the host Calgary Colts.
“Kleiter went down with an injury so now we have to respond to that. It’s not a good prognosis — a minimum four weeks. We’re in the (market) for a punter. That’s the thing about football: Nothing waits for you. You’ve got to keep figuring it out or you get into trouble.”
Among those auditioning were receivers John Brown and Sam Mike, along with running back Adam Machart.
“Some of these guys are such great athletes that you just put them in spots and you know they are going to thrive come Sunday,” said Sargeant.
Brown appears to have won the job, at least for now. He did a little bit of punting, as a backup, during his high school days with the Bedford Road Redmen.
“It’s fun,” said Brown, a six-foottwo, 210-pound receiver who is into his second season with the Hilltops, but hadn’t punted since high school.
“I was the backup punter and had only a couple (of punts), but you’ve got to make them count.
“I’m thrilled. It’s an honour.” Brown showed that he could definitely boot the ball, achieving some decent hang-time and a missile-like spiral.
“I’m going to try and go for as much distance as possible,” said Brown, who also played basketball at Bedford Road.
“I’m excited (to play Calgary). It’s a tough defence we’re playing against so it’s going to be a good game. Our O-line really has to step up. We’ve just got to make our blocks and keep going, spread the field.”
The Hilltops head to Calgary this weekend to face the Colts, who have been one of the better PFC teams in recent years, but have struggled out of the gate to a 1-3 record. The team underwent a coaching change this week when Matthew (Snoop) Blokker resigned for personal reasons.
“My friend Snoop Blokker — I don’t know what’s going on there,” admitted Sargeant. “Certainly I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a good coach. He runs a really good program. Now, I guess we have the unknown. We knew what their style was and what they liked to do. Right now we don’t.”
Saskatoon sits second in the PFC with a 3-1 along with the Winnipeg Rifles and Regina Thunder, also 3-1.
The Toppers will look to recharge their running game.
“We were disappointed (in the game against Regina),” said Sargeant. “They shut us down. They out-coached us and outplayed us. We still ran for a 150 yards but it just wasn’t good enough for the expectations that we have in everyone. The O -line play is certainly an area we need to improve and enhance. Everybody’s been put on notice how to pick it up and, if not, we’re going to keep putting new players in until we get it right.”
Offensively, the running attack has long been the Toppers’ bread and butter.
“We love to run the ball,” stressed Sargeant. “That’s what we hang our hat on. We’re the one team in the league that really emphasizes running the football but it still comes to that right mix.”