Riley (#55) in action this season with the University of Saskatchewan Huskies. (Facebook/Darren Steinke)

By Mat Barrett

Huskies Football

Melfort’s Riley honoured with USports First Team All-Canadian spot

Nov 26, 2019 | 2:00 PM

The University of Sasaktchewan Huskies had five players honoured as USports All-Canadians for the 2019 season, including a Melfort native.

Mattland Riley is an offensive lineman for the Huskies and just finished his fourth season with the team and is majoring in engineering. He was named to the first team this year after being a second team member in 2018. Riley called it an honour to be named an all-Canadian and gave lots of credit to his teammates.

“Playing as an offensive lineman, you’re only as good as the guys you play beside,” he said. “And I was very fortunate over the last few years to play beside some very talented teammates.”

Riley said it’s been a progressive climb of growth for him through his university career. After getting a chance to start playing in his second year, he was named second team All-Canadian in his third year of eligibility before this year. He said he was very fortunate to get playing time so early.

(Facebook/Darren Steinke)

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While it’s been a progressive climb for Riley, it’s also been a progressive climb for the U of S Huskies football program. After winning a playoff game last year for the first time in many years, the Huskies made their way to the Hardy Cup this year, just one win away from a national championship appearance and a chance to win the Vanier Cup.

“This year, when we were going through the playoffs, it was just an expectation that we’d continue going,” Riley said. “So I’d say this year it was a little bit more disappointing than last year for sure because we felt like we had some more games in us left to play.”

He added he’s still proud of his teammates and what they accomplished and how they are able to keep raising the bar of the football program there.

Riley is also just one of two Melfort players on the U of S squad. Along with Kyle Friesen who redshirted this year, Riley said the support from his hometown has been great.

“Every time I go back to Melfort I get stopped quite a bit and people want to talk,” Riley told northeastNOW. “And I just love that.”

Riley is also an alumnus of the Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate Comets football program. He said there’s a lot of credit to give to that program and the coaching staff like Dave Rogers and Jarod Koroll.

“Most small town football programs don’t have quality coaches like that,” Riley said. “And those two, they just do so much for the kids. They don’t understand when they’re in high school, how many hours they put in and how much they do for them. But once you get out of that little atmosphere and start talking to other players, you realize that Melfort is run like a big city program and not a small town one.”

For Riley, now that the season is over, he plans to keep working and getting better through the off season at he prepares to hopefully get drafted. Riley would have one more year of university football eligibility if he does not get drafted.

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mat.barrett@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @matbarrett6