The Saskatoon Hilltops are preparing for their final home game of the regular season in which the team is 5-1 and will surely make another run at appearing in the Prairie Football Conference championship.
To this point, the Hilltops lead Calgary, Winnipeg, Regina, and the two Edmonton teams in points for and points against and hold the top spot in the conference, something that is almost expected of this football program throughout the last decade.
This season, three North Battleford products are part of the Hilltops looking to break the streak of two straight losses in the conference championship.
Local Lane Bannerman is a running back in his second season with the Hilltops and has the third most touches of all Hilltops' running backs. Bannerman has 135 yards on 30 attempts with one touchdown and two receptions. Bannerman also plays special teams occasionally as a kick returner and has 105 yards on six kick returns and one punt return this season.
Bannerman started playing football with the North Battleford Comprehensive High School Vikings, before transferring to Outlook to finish his high school football there.
The two other North Battleford players, Colin Keys and Zach Ironstand, have seem limited time on the defensive side of the ball, but both are rookies and will likely get a chance to do for the Hilltops what they did for the Vikings during their time playing 3A high school football.
"Both of these guys are great athletes, but taking that step to the next level takes a lot of commitment," said their former coach at NBCHS Jamie Sommerfeld.
Ironstand, 64? 220-pound defensive end, was among the Vikings' sack leaders over the last two seasons.
"You can't teach size," said Sommerfeld, who he also coached to a provincial basketball title. "He is blessed with a big athletic body and through his maturity after high school he was able to make the squad and a lot of it based on his work at the camps in the summers and his commitment to the game of football."
"It has been a great learning experience being apart of the Hilltops," says Ironstand. "Its defiantly a big step from high school, the game is so much quicker and the players are a lot bigger and faster, but its defiantly been fun and I have learned a lot."
Keys, a defensive back, got in his first game Aug. 22 and made a tackle in his debut with the Hilltops after taking a year off deciding if he wanted to further pursue football.
"He is just a phenomenal athlete," said his former coach.
Sommerfeld said it isn't unusual for players to stay on the practice rosters until their third season with a team, but the young guys have to stick with it and take in everything they can from the veteran players.
Ironstand has travelled with the team once this year as part of the 40-man roster and has dressed at home with the 60-man roster and has played a good amount for a rookie.
Saskatoon hosts the Edmonton Wildcats at Griffiths Stadium Sunday and will finish the regular season with a game in Edmonton next weekend against the Huskies.
"My goals for the rest of this year are to contribute to the team as much as possible and to keep getting better every practice and winning the National Championship is the team's main goal," says Ironstand.
