It was a tale of two halves between the Holy Cross Crusaders and St. Joseph Guardians football teams in the Saskatoon 6A city final Friday as the two teams met in the championship game for the fifth consecutive year.

St. Joseph emerged victorious in the game, defeating Holy Cross 38-34.

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The first half saw the Crusaders control the majority of the game scoring four touchdowns, three of which came from running back and wide receiver AuLain Penner.

The Guardians scored two touchdowns, including one from running back Samuel LaFrenière.

Holy Cross ended the first half with a blocked punt by Penner that resulted in a touchdown for cornerback Fefe Oluwatominiyi, making the score 28-14 for the Crusaders at halftime.

The second half was all about the Guardians, as LaFreniere turned on the jets and took over the game, scoring three touchdowns, finishing the game with a total of four.

A couple field goals from Holy Cross and one from St. Joseph resulted in the final score of 38-34.

The Crusaders will now face Regina. Campbell Collegiate Tartans in the provincial final in Ville Reine.

Guardians head coach Chad Palmer said he was very proud of his team and its resilience.

“Never giving up is the most important thing,” Palmer said. “The way that exchange went before (the) half where they blocked the punt on us (and) got the touchdown…this team just kept believing.”

It was LaFrenière who turned this game around by ending up rushing for over 300 yards.

Palmer said he has been a key player all year.

“Anytime a back runs for 300-plus yards, it’s probably a big deal,” Palmer said. “One of our coaches is one of the stats guys, and he’s accumulated what Sam has in stats so far this year, and after tonight he’ll run for over 2,000 yards.”

This is the second city championship for the Guardians in the last three seasons, and Palmer said it helps prepare them for another provincial final.

“In 2022 we celebrated that and we chased Miller in the provincial final,” Palmer said. “We’ll treat this like any other win, and the next game is just another game, because we’ve shown all year that when we prepare and do our job, it’s successful.”

Palmer said he left delivering the team’s half-time message to the senior players.

Slotback Noah Yasinski said the message was simple.

“We put out a message saying ‘do it for your elders, do it for everyone, we’re a family and let’s go out there and get this thing back,'” he said.

Yasinski is happy to still be able to hit the practice field next week with his team as they prepare for the provincial finals.

“It means everything, I couldn’t have this being my last high school football game,” Yasinski said. “I just have one more week to get a chance to compete at the provincials, it’s going to be awesome.”

Despite Holy Cross’ loss, the team still has a lot to accomplish, and head coach Tom Schnitzler said he is very proud of his team.

“The guys fought all year, we had three tough battles against St. Joe’s,” Schnitzler said. “The guys are upset, but they have to hold their heads high.”

Schnitzler also thanked his senior students for helping lead the team throughout the year.

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