Carlton (left) lines up against St. Mary ahead of the snap. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW)

By Logan Lehmann

High school Football

Carlton advances to NSFL finals with win over St. Mary

Oct 19, 2024 | 4:22 PM

The Carlton Crusaders are off to the North Sask. Football League (NSFL) finals.

Carlton punched their ticket to the dance following their 43-0 route of their rival St. Mary at Max Clunie Field. The contest was a rematch of last year’s semi-final however, it was St. Mary who prevailed pulling off a massive 32-28 upset.

Under the lights, Carlton hit the ground running by hanging 23 points on St. Mary in the opening quarter. The second didn’t get much better as the Crusaders rumbled for some more points, ending with 43 at the half.

From there, the second half was a defensive standoff with neither team managing to scrum together any sort of momentum, leaving the score the same for the remainder of the contest and ending with a 43-0 score.

The win not only marks a finals berth for Carlton, but also continues their shot at history as the Cru are still undefeated on the year at 5-0 against league opponents. Carlton has a shot to continue their undefeated season as they have their eyes set on the NSFL Championship.

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Meeting them in the finals is Martensville, who knocked off last year’s champions North Battleford 28-7 in their semifinal meeting which also happened Friday night. Martensville only has lost once to a league opponent this season, that coming via a 24-0 decision at the hands of Carlton in Week 3.

Since Carlton finished the regular season as the higher seed, the Cru was awarded home field advantage and therefore the NSFL finals will happen at Max Clunie Field in Prince Albert next week. A date and time have not yet been confirmed.

The winner of the NSFL finals will represent the league in the provincial tournament and will face off with the 5A winners from Regina in the semifinals.

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loganc.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com