It was championship day on Monday at Canad Inns Stadium for the Winnipeg High School Football League as new champions were crowned in three bowl games in Canad Inns Stadium.

The Portage Trojans capped an undefeated season by becoming Canad Inns Bowl champions in the Currie (A) division, The Sturgeon Heights Huskies were also undefeated as they won their first-ever football championship as they were Free Press Bowl champions in the Vidruk (AA) division and the Churchill Bulldogs, the smallest school playing in the WHSFL, earned the ANAVETS Bowl championship title in the Potter AAA division.

Churchill, which last won the championship in 2004, defeated the St. Paul's Crusaders 28-25 to win the Potter Memorial Trophy.

"Our boys stuck together and they fought for each other and we're really proud of them and we really learned a good lesson this year," said Churchill head coach Kelsey McKay. "One of the knocks on these guys, and I've heard it from other coaches around the league and I didn't appreciate it, was we can win the blowouts but we couldn't win the close ones. I think we proved that tonight that in the biggest game of the year, that we could do that."

The ANAVETS Bowl was a tight contest as both teams scored big-play touchdowns on their first possessions for a 7-7 tie just 1:50 into the game. Championship game MVP Sean Clark, Churchill's Grade 12 running back, led the way with three touchdowns while Paul Childs had a 20-yard touchdown catch from quarterback Ben Watson.

"It doesn't get any better than this," said Clark. "I've been waiting since Grade 9 and now it finally pays off.... it's just fantastic."

While St. Paul's saw an early lead slip away, the team scored a two-point conversion on a late fourth-quarter touchdown to pull within three points but the Bulldogs were able to pin them in their zone with time running out. Players of the game were linebacker Thomas Miles for Churchill and quarterback Nicholas Cobb for St. Paul's.

Sturgeon Heights 48 Garden City 6

In the Vidruk (AA) final, championship game MVP Kienan LaFrance capped off his Grade 12 year by scoring four touchdowns -- three rushing majors (22, 40 and four yards) and a punt-return touchdown -- to lead his Sturgeon team to a dominant victory and their first championship title as the new school after Sturgeon Creek's and Silver Heights' amalgamation.

"This is my graduating year and I'm just glad I could help out the boys, they're doing good," said LaFrance, who was presented with the Wii game Guitar Hero by the Free Press as MVP.

The game was played in running time by the late second quarter when Sturgeon's lead was over 30 points, as per league rules. Sturgeon had mounted a 28-6 lead by the end of the first quarter and were up 41-6 at the half. Eric Harder was the player of the game for Garden City -- in just their second season in the league -- scoring the Gophers' only touchdown. Sturgeon's player of the game was Anthony Coombs, who scored a touchdown and was a key rusher for his team.

Portage 31 Murdoch MacKay 3

In the Currie (A) division, the Portage Trojans won their first title in just their second year in the WWHSFL while it was the first loss of the season for the Clansmen.Portage followed the powerful rush of championship MVP Devon Kozar who rushed for two touchdowns (39 and 49 yards) and threw a touchdown pass to teammate Kyle Czop, and their defence, which hauled in six interceptions.

The player of the game for Murdoch was linebacker Michael Hauptkorn who had 11 tackles, and Portage's player of the game was Jesse Marks, who had two interceptions.

ashley.prest@freepress.mb.ca