LeBoldus, Luther celebrate first-place finishes
Kade Belyk savoured that long-distance feeling once again on Friday.
Belyk opened the scoring with an 89-yard touchdown run to spark the LeBoldus Golden Suns to a 31-21 victory over the Campbell Tartans in a Regina Intercollegiate Football League showdown on Taylor Field.
His big-play capability was also evident in the 2013 Saskatchewan High Schools Athletic Association 4A final, in which LeBoldus defeated the Saskatoon Holy Cross Crusaders 41-7. He had a 106-yard touchdown reception in that game as LeBoldus won its second consecutive provincial title.
In addition to the 89-yarder on Friday, Belyk caught a 21-yard touchdown pass from Chan De Ciman to propel LeBoldus to the RIFL’s Schwann Conference (4A) regular-season title.
In the process, LeBoldus avenged a 37-30 loss to Campbell in an Oct. 3 regular-season meeting. The Golden Suns’ loss snapped their 25-game winning streak.
Although the Tartans and Golden Suns have split their two games to date and finished with 5-1-0 records, the Golden Suns got the nod on the basis of points for and against in head-to-head play. LeBoldus outscored Campbell 61-58 over the two games.
“It’s always a battle,” Belyk said, “and it’s always fun to play the Tartans.”
Friday’s schedule also featured a down-to-the-wire first-place battle in the Stewart Conference (3A). The Luther Lions claimed top spot by virtue of a 21-21 tie with the O’Neill Titans during the nightcap on Taylor Field.
Luther finished the regular season with a 6-0-1 record. O’Neill was next in line at 5-1-1.
Luther’s Matt Knight hit a 13-yard field goal on the final play to tie the game and give his team first place.
O’Neill had gone ahead 21-18 with 1:58 remaining in the fourth quarter when Levi Breitenbach converted a one-yard touchdown run by Nolan Anderson.
O’Neill also got touchdown runs of 55 and 12 yards from Chris Busch, who had 19 carries for 202 yards.
Luther quarterback Scott Findura threw touchdown passes of 104 yards (to Isaac Foord) and 22 yards (to Matthew Wass). On the night, Findura completed nine of 16 passes for 306 yards.
On the Lions’ final drive, Findura found Avner Phen for completions of 16 and 36 yards. The latter play put Luther on O’Neill’s two-yard line with 26 seconds left.
Back-to-back running plays left Luther on O’Neill’s one-yard line. Knight then tried back-to-back field goals, but both plays were negated by a penalty. He then hit the game-tying 13-yarder.
In RIFL action Friday at Leibel Field, the Riffel Royals defeated Balfour 14-9 and the Balgonie Greenall Griffins edged the Miller Marauders 18-17.