The last time the Humboldt Collegiate Institute (HCI) Mohawks nine-man football team descended into the valley at Lumsden was to play the 2007 Provincial semi-final.
On that day, the Mohawks eked out a last minute win.
While the 2010 edition of the same game had lots of drama, Humboldt successfully exerted their will over the home team much sooner.
"(Jordan) Hilgers, (Braden) Richards, (Merit) Meyers, (Darren) Henry and the crew just punished their ball carriers until they didn't want to compete anymore," grinned HCI's defensive co-ordinator Brian Hinz. "That's the game we wanted from them and they delivered."
Indeed, the Devil's points came on a punt single in the first half and a fourth quarter miscue resulting in an interception returned for a touchdown.
The vaunted Devil offence that had scored 418 points in the regular season (Humboldt scored 267) really only threatened once, on their first possession.
Lumsden drove to inside the five-yard line before a turnover on downs.
The Mohawk defence got decidedly stingier afterwards.
"We hit the A gaps hard with our linebackers and our halfbacks supported real well when they tried to go outside," Hinz noted.
The Devil passing game was unable to pick up the slack. HCI's Josh Giddings stepped in front of a Lumsden quarterback pass for an interception and Mohawk Ryan Stumborg had plenty of range on the other side of the field.
In the aftermath of victory, defensive line coach Tom Schwinghamer talked about the win.
"This one is very sweet. Not many people were giving us much of a chance. But we believed in our kids and in this coaching staff."
Added coach Mike Suchan, "The way those Lumsden backs were struggling to their feet after tackles tells me they hadn't been hit like that before. I want to savour this one but we have to get ready for next week. We have goals left to reach."
The Mohawk offence had some difficulty piling up the points, too. Some drives fizzled, but they were seldom two and out.
Jordan Gerwing hit Stumborg on a couple of long passes for Giddings over the middle. But the telling blows were body shots delivered by Henry at fullback or tailback Leroy Japtha.
Japtha had a career game. With the halftime score 10-1, the Mohawks took the ball to start the third quarter and relentlessly hammered with Japtha down into field goal range, draining just over five minutes off the clock in the process. It also bled off a lot of the Devil energy and weakened the knees of their defence.
After Giddings hit from 27 yards out, the 13-1 lead held until the pick six in the fourth. But the unfazed Gerwing drove into the red zone and then Stumborg delivered a gritty run to the two yard line. The Mohawk quarterback scrummed the ball in for his second touchdown of the game. He also plunged into the west end zone in the second quarter.
With a 20-8 HCI lead and time dwindling, Lumsden couldn't cross the midfield stripe.
"We had the answers," nodded HCI head coach Shaun Gardiner, "and the execution today. It was just a complete victory, but we are humbled by the opportunity we earned to play for a championship. We get to coach these kids one more week."
The Mohawks will face the Delisle Rebels who were 33-2 victors over Sacred Heart of Yorkton in the other provincial final.
Game time is 1 p.m. on November 13 in Delisle.
