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Carlton quarterback Sullivan Smith-Windsor throws for one of his four touchdowns during the Crusaders 34-3 win over Martensville. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW staff)
a historic start

Carlton throttles Martensville 34-3 to kickoff inaugural NSFL season

Sep 14, 2023 | 11:25 PM

The Carlton Crusaders etched their name into the history book on Thursday night.

The Red and Gold captured the first ever win in the North Saskatchewan Football League after they took down the Martensville Royals 34-3 at Max Clunie Field in Prince Albert.

Carlton’s head coach Lindsay Strachan shared his thoughts on the dominant win, calling it an all-around great team effort.

“We talked a lot this week about setting a physical tone and I thought we did a good job of that tonight,” he said. “Defense played outstanding for us. Offensively, we kind of took a couple series to get our wheels in motion and defense had our back until that happened – it all came together.”

Both teams remained deadlocked at zero for the majority of the opening quarter before Carlton managed to break the tie with 4:52 to go. Although not a touchdown or a field goal, the Cru chalked one point on the scoreboard following a rouge.

On the last play of the quarter, Carlton quarterback Sullivan Smith-Windsor connected with Gage Prodaehl to get the games first touchdown and to put Carlton up 8-0.

Midway through the second, Smith-Windsor found Prodaehl again, this time for a 60 yard catch-and-go touchdown to extend Carlton’s lead. A few minutes later the Crusaders get another six points on the board via Smith-Windsor to Jordan Stene to make it 22-0.

Jordan Stene tosses the ball up in celebration after scoring a touchdown. (Logan Lehmann/paNOW staff)

Martensville conceded a safety with 1:59 to go before kicking a field goal to make the score 24-3 heading into halftime. In the first half, Carlton managed 358 total offensive yards opposed to the Royals 108.

Unfortunately for the visitors, that’s as close as they would come to the Crusaders.

Zane Litzenberger scored on a catch-and-go touchdown in the third quarter while in the fourth, Martensville conceded another safety before Carlton scored another rouge to end the game 34-3.

Strachan said he’s pleased to see his teams already great chemistry following game one.

“It’s awesome, that’s a big part of what we do, we try to get vertical,” he said. “We had some athletes that made big plays tonight and of course Sully [Smith-Windsor] puts the ball in great spots all the time for us.”

The Crusaders are back at it next week in regular season action in the battle of Prince Albert. The 11th annual Canadian Tire Classic between Carlton and St. Mary kicks off at 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 22 at Max Clunie Field.

logan.lehmann@pattisonmedia.com