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“I’m just happy to be back playing before playoffs and I’ve got a couple of games in and a couple of touchdowns feel good — I’m ready to go,” said Rhode.

“I’m happy to be with family and friends, and the support of this Hilltops organization is amazing. It was amazing, especially being with the parents who support us every single day through our whole lives playing football. It’s nice to be with them all and we’re glad we have this night that we could dedicate to them.”

McNabb led the way defensively with seven tackles and three quarterback sacks.

“He had three today and I had called him out today in front of the team and parents at the morning breakfast and he put it right in my mouth — so good for him,” noted Sargeant. “It’s good to see. He had a shutout all year and he got it done today and it was fun to watch. I had a lens on him. He had a hat-trick today, so he did a pretty good job of shutting me up today.”

Kelsey-Stern added a 32-yard TD off an interception.

Saskatoon racked up 577 yards in total net offence, whereas Edmonton mustered 170 yards in net offence.

“We want to make sure we’re playing our best as we head into the playoffs,” said Sargeant. “It was a basic game plan, but, son of a gun, the coaches did a great job of improving the areas we needed to improve. The first 30 minutes, we got to see a lot of things I hadn’t seen this year. We’re getting this team right at the right time. We’ve just got to keep building it, working on confidence, keep working on scheme and do a better job of preparing because those two interceptions that Herm (Tyler Hermann) threw in the second half, they just sort of out-smarted us. We’ve got to go back to the lab and finish that better.”

Ben Abrook, who carried the ball 19 times for 101 yards, also scored a TD major for the Toppers. Carter McLean, Keegan Dicks and Dillan Heintz, with a 58-yard catch and run, also had one TD apiece for Saskatoon, which led 14-0 after the first quarter and 35-0 at half-time.

Rylan Kleiter had field goals from 20 yards and 26 yards plus six converts to round out the Hilltops’ scoring.

dzary@postmedia.com