SASKATOON — With the way things went for the Saskatoon Valkyries on the first series of the Western Women’s Canadian Football League championship final on Saturday afternoon, it appeared as if they were going to be in for a long afternoon.
Instead, the only thing that went long the rest of the game were the Valkyries’ running and passing plays.
After giving up a long passing touchdown on the opening series against the Edmonton Arctic Pride, the Valkyries played shutout football the rest of the way, and their vaunted offence would do more than enough to get the job done.
Saskatoon would go on to a 40-7 victory at Saskatoon Minor Football Field to win their sixth-straight WWCFL championship and 11th title in franchise history.
It was an inauspicious start, though, as Edmonton got off a pass to the sideline on their first possession of the game and went 55 yards to the house for a 7-0 lead less than three minutes into the contest.
The Valkyries took a bit to respond — hampered briefly when the Pride had an interception deep in their own territory late in the first half — but once they got rolling, it was all systems go.
On their very next drive after the pick, Saskatoon running back Sarah Wright cracked off a momentum-shifting 40 yard run all the way down to the Edmonton two yard line, and Wright would then finish off the drive with the touchdown to make it a 7-7 game 2:10 into the second quarter.
Valkyries quarterback Julia Smith marched Saskatoon down the field on their next possession, and that too would end with a major, with receiver Ricki Obed hauling in an eight-yard pass for a 14-7 lead with 7:20 until the half.
Valkyries kicker Kaylin O’Neill went to work from there, hitting her first of four field goals on the day from 25 yards out with 4:31 remaining in the second quarter.
The hits kept coming late in the first half, this time when Obed handed off to Emma Rae Dale on a punt return reverse, and Dale would get all the way to the opposite sideline before rumbling 65 yards down to the Edmonton eight.
The Valkyries wouldn’t get any points there, but O’Neill would hit a 22-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining to make it 20-7 Saskatoon at halftime.
Edmonton looked to be in business on their first drive of the second half, getting down to the Saskatoon 33, but that would come to an end when Haley Girolami had a red zone interception and took the pick all the way back to midfield.
O’Neill then hit a couple more field goals, striking from 22 yards with 1:52 to play in the third quarter and then from 30 on Saskatoon’s first drive of the final quarter.
That made it a 26-7 lead, and Wright would increase Saskatoon’s edge to 26 when she finished off a lengthy Valkyries drive by punching in the ball from the one.
Saskatoon’s Sophia Graham then wrapped up scoring on the day with a 13-yard touchdown run that made it 40-7 after O’Neill’s convert with 2:32 remaining.
The win caps off another perfect season for Saskatoon, including a 4-0 regular season where they outscored their opponents 79-25 before taking a 17-7 win over the Mantoba Fearless in the Prairie Conference semifinal.