Next stop semifinals.

For the Portage Collegiate Trojans football team, that is.

Tyler Fedak, Brandon Friesen and Jadon Shay-Hayes each scored touchdowns, as the Trojans hung on to beat St. Norbert 22-14 in the Winnipeg High School Football League Vidruk/Currie quarter-finals today at PCI Field in Portage la Prairie. It was the first playoff win for the Trojans program in years.

"We made more mistakes. The outcome should not have been in doubt going into the last three or four minutes of the game," says Trojans head coach Brent Irwin. "But we'll move on, and work on our breakdowns, but still enjoy the success."

St. Norbert jumped out to a 6-0 lead, scoring on its opening play of the first quarter. The Trojans answered shortly after, as Friesen ran for a major, then Connor Green converted the extra point to make it 7-6. In the second quarter, Fedak gave the home side their first lead, catching a short pass before bursting up the field 30-yards for a touchdown to make it 14-6. St. Norbert answered just before halftime on pass play that started from their own 10-yard line, tying the game 14-14.

In the third quarter, shortly after scoring the rouge to go ahead 15-14, the Trojans took an eight-point lead as Shay-Hayes made a catch in the endzone to make it 22-14. Midway through the fourth, the hosts had a chance to add to their lead with a 20-yard field goal, but it was blocked. St. Norbert managed to move the ball into PCI's end on its final drive, but the Trojans stamped out a run attempt by their quarter-back on the final play of the game to preserve the win.

"They're not a pushover team by any means," Irwin says of St. Norbert. "We knew that they were going to come hard and tough, and they did. Good on our guys for persevering."

The WHSFL adopted a cross-over format at the start of the 2015 season, with the bottom-four teams from the Vidruk Division and the top-four teams from the Currie Division competing in mixed playoffs. The Trojans are through to the crossover round, the semifinals, and will meet the Vidruk Division's Elmwood Giants next week. Elmwood went 3-4-0 in the WHSFL regular season, finishing seventh in its division.

"I'm sure they'll be a challenge," Irwin says. "Because they weren't in our division this year we haven't seen any game film. But we have game film on them now, so we'll be watching some video with some popcorn (to prepare)."