It still hasn't sunk in for Michael Bittman that he's a Prairie Football Conference champion.
Bittman is a defensive lineman for the Regina Thunder squad that defeated the Saskatoon Hilltops 21-16 in the PFC championship game on Sunday in Saskatoon.
It was the first PFC title for the Thunder and a major breakthrough after years of losing to the Hilltops, their biggest rival.
Bittman, a former ECS Elecs star, said it was especially sweet to do it against Saskatoon.
"It was pretty nerve-wracking at the beginning. It doesn't matter whether it's in Saskatoon or Regina, when we play the Hilltops, that's a game where you get nervous," he said.
"I've been a part of games where we've been destroyed by that team. I've had friends that were beaten by this team and I've seen them crying coming off the field.
"I've never seen my old man cry, and after the game on the field he was crying. That's when the emotions really started hitting me."
The Thunder now have a date with the Vancouver Island Raiders in the national championship, the Canadian Bowl, in Regina on Nov. 9.
Bittman, now in his third year with the junior squad, started the game at rush end and never came out. He recorded the Thunder's only sack.
He attributed the win to extremely thorough preparation. The Thunder completely shut down the Hilltops' offence until the fourth quarter, when they scored their only two touchdowns, and Bittman said stopping the run was the key to that.
"Even their head coach said in the interview after the game that we outplayed them, we outcoached them, that was the difference. We had good preparation, lots of video time, we knew what we had to do and we went out and did it.
"Their whole offensive setup is around (running back Andre) Lalonde, so our game plan in meetings was that the defensive line has to shut down the run. If you shut down the run, we win this game. We knew what we had to do. We knew everything they were going to throw at us, all the routes, all the plays."
Regina took a 7-2 lead after the first quarter on a five-yard touchdown run by Nick Brown. They also knocked Hilltops quarterback Matt Karpinka out of the game.
In the second quarter, the Thunder got two field goals from William McGee and a single to take a 14-2 lead at the half.
In the third quarter, Regina quarterback Asher Hastings threw a 43-yard touchdown to Will Heward to add to the lead.
Lalonde would make it close with two majors for Saskatoon in the fourth quarter, but it wasn't enough.
Bittman said the combination of shutting down the run and boasting a strong secondary was too much for the Hilltops' offence to handle.
"We have one of the best secondaries in the entire PFC division. If we shut down the run, that forces them to throw the ball and our defensive backs were in good position to stop them."
Bittman was the first Estevan player to make the Thunder back in 2011, and he said it's "very exciting" to win a PFC title for the Energy City.
"It's just a great feeling to be able to say I came from Estevan, I made history and I was on the first team in Regina Thunder history to have an opportunity to go to a national championship.
"It's huge for me to be able to represent the town I came from, the program Estevan established while I was playing there, and now being able to play on this team, and now having this opportunity to go nationals. Everybody is just ecstatic about it," he said, noting the help along the way from coaches who pushed him to be better.
Although the Thunder have two weeks between the PFC title game and the Canadian Bowl, Bittman said Monday that it was still hard to grasp what his team has done.
"It's huge for us to have this PFC win, but most of the guys, I don't think we've actually realized how important this is for the team, the city, the league. No one here has had an opportunity to go to nationals. We have two weeks to prepare for it, but as for emotions, I don't think it's set in yet."
The Thunder will spend considerable time watching film on the Raiders, as well as from the Hilltops game to see what they can improve on.
Bittman said it's tough to put into words what it would be like to win a national title.
"It'd mean a lot for me. It's huge for the community, it's huge for myself. Personally, I take a lot of pride in what I'm doing, and to have this opportunity given to me, I'll do nothing but try to seize the moment."
