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Saskatoon, given a second chance, handed the ball to a hard-charging Abrook. He recorded his 128th rushing yard by leaping into the air and across the goal-line, and from there, the Hilltops’ defence held Regina at bay.

Regina is now 2-2, with both losses inflicted by Saskatoon.

“Win or lose, I’m not feeling good about this win, I’ll tell you that right now,” Hilltops head coach Tom Sargeant said after his team improved — barely — to 4-0. “The way I’m going to coach next week … I’m coaching like we lost this game. And my players had better respond to that. I’m going to need more snap and zip, because that’s what’s going to be demanded for next week.”

“When you compare the first time we played against these guys to this game, we got better,” said Thunder head coach Scott MacAulay, whose team lost 34-16 to the Hilltops a few weeks ago. “That’s the only thing we’re going to be happy with. The fact that we still lost the game … (we) didn’t get the two points; they still won. It’s a bitter pill, right?”

Abrook readily admitted that Saturday’s scrap “got the blood pumping.” He watched his team lose a game, for all intents and purposes, with that fumbled ball on the Thunder doorstep. Seldom has a flag been greeted with such relief.

“The first thought going through my mind,” Abrook later said of his ensuing plunge, “was ‘do not lose the ball.’ ”

The Hilltops haven’t lost a football game, regular season or playoffs, since Sept. 9, 2017, when Regina edged them 29-26.