While the Yorkton Regional High School Raiders football team may have fallen short in their quest for Championship glory in 2013, a former alumni of the Orange has enjoyed a magical season in the Canadian Junior Football League as a member of the Regina Thunder's first Canadian Bowl squad.
Yorkton's Paul Toth, a former slotback and linebacker for the Raiders was a member of the Thunder's team that beat the Vancouver Island Raiders 55-26 at Taylor Field (Mosaic Stadium) to win the first CJFL title for Regina since the Rams in '98.
The Thunder, who missed the playoffs five times in their first nine seasons before losing in the playoffs for four years since 2009 were considered to be once again underdogs heading into the 2013 playoffs, but Toth said a semifinal win over the Edmonton Huskies built momentum going into the Prairie Football Conference Champion-ship against their rivals in Saskatoon.
"Going into the PFC Final we were pretty confident after grinding out a close game with the Huskies that we were prepared to go out and do the same thing against the Hilltops," says Toth.
Under first year coach Scott MacAualy the Thunder dug deep and prepared with extensive film study, something that has helped Toth become a special teams dynamo.
With a blocked kick and several special teams tackles under his belt, Toth became a favourite of his new head coach on special teams. Emerging on a Thunder team with loads of bright talent. Toth has credited that success to hard work and film study that has been preached by their new head coach.
"We watch film a lot, once a day at the field and then at home and it really helps to know what teams are doing on special teams so I try to take advantage," says Toth.
That film study Toth said, paid off with a championship.
"We were really prepared and confident to play VI (Vancouver Island) after a two week break and after our gameplan worked against the Hilltops in the league final we felt that we could beat anybody."
Paying attention to football could have been difficult for Toth this season. He broke his fibula as one of the top scorers for the Yorkton Bulldogs lacrosse team and his girlfriend was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. In addition to his personal life Toth also helps on his family farm in Saltcoats and works full time as a framer. Toth says that the busy schedule keeps him focused.
"I don't have a lot of time for distractions outside of work, family, and football and like it that way, it keeps me focused on what is important."
Going into his third season with the Thunder, Toth will be returning along with key defenders. Going into the offseason Toth says he is going to continue to work on getting bigger, but has no problems in returning on special teams.
"We have a lot of talented guys coming back on defense and I already get a bit of playing time in certain packages and you always want more time on the field, but I just want to do whatever the coaches want me to do and I enjoy special teams," says Toth.
