As the weather heats up, so does a well-established Western Women’s Canadian Football League rivalry.
The Regina Riot and Saskatoon Valkyries are to collide on Sunday, 1 p.m., at Leibel Field during the opening weekend of regular-season play.
Saskatoon and Regina are the only teams to have won a championship since the league’s inception in 2011.
The Valkyries captured the first four titles before the Riot won three championships in a span of four seasons.
After Saskatoon reclaimed WWCFL supremacy in 2019, the league was idle for two years in a row due to COVID-19.
Post-pandemic, Saskatoon has stretched its streak of championships to three.
“The first few years, when we hit the ground running, we obviously had growing pains,” recalls quarterback Aimee Kowalski, an original member of the Riot. “Lots of time was spent learning the game and developing the coaches and the opportunity for coaches.
“It wasn’t until the fourth or fifth year when we really started having a rivalry with the Valkyries. We brought home a championship and since then it has been a real rivalry, I would say.
“They were initially the team to beat but eventually we were the team that they needed to prepare for.”
As a result, every regular-season meeting between the teams has a playoff vibe.
“It’s definitely a rivalry and it’s always great competition,” says Alex Eyolfsen, who is poised to begin her seventh season as the Valkyries’ starting quarterback.
“When it’s Regina versus Saskatoon, we’re competitive and we want to win, and so do they, so it’s good competition.
“We’ve been working hard this off-season so it’s exciting to be able to put that into a game. It’s nice to have the first game in sight now, because we started (preparing) in January.”
Such a level of commitment is required from both teams as they strive to one-up a provincial rival.
Every meeting is a showcase for the league’s premier quarterbacks, who have the utmost respect for each other.
Kowalski lauds Eyolfsen as “a great young quarterback.”
Eyolfsen, in turn, marvels at Kowalski’s throwing arm and general excellence.
“I definitely looked up to her, especially when I first started, because she was the star quarterback,” Eyolfson says.
“She has definitely been a role model. I just wanted to strive to be competitive and to be good like her.”
Kowalski returned to the field in 2023 after previously appearing behind centre with the Riot in 2019.
During the hiatus, she coached with the Regina Victorias of the Prairie Girls Football League.
Kowalski — Football Saskatchewan’s Women’s Football Growth and Development Co-ordinator — also kept busy by managing the under-18 female program.
“Just being around the young athletes, I found that inspiring,” she says. “They were doing really well skill-wise and it was something I wanted to be back doing again.”
The Riot and Valkyries meet twice during the regular season. The second matchup is slated for May 18, 7 p.m., at SMF Field in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Roughrider Foundation annually provides both teams with $20,000 to assist with players’ scholarships.
