The Yorkton Minor Football (YMF) Gridders high school football team welcomed Winnipeg’s Murdoch MacKay Clansmen to town this past Thursday for a spring football exhibition game, besting the visiting Clansmen 49-35 in a highly offensive affair.
The quarterback combination of YRHS Raider starter Nick Payne and Foam Lake Panther star Brayden Faye kept the Winnipeg club’s defence off-balance, while young Raider receiver Matthew Mandziuk and Foam Lake running back Garrett Fedak also caused all sorts of problems for the Clansmen in the victory. “We knew Nick Payne was going to do what Nick Payne does and that’s run the offense,” offered Gridder assistant coach and offensive coordinator Jason Boyda following Thursday’s victory. “But Matthew Mandziuk made some big plays for us today too and came down with some incredible catches that were highlight reel ones.
“The Foam Lake guys that we had come and play did great today as well. They’re at practice to learn and they work really hard every time and you can tell they’ve had great coaching over the years at their program and they showed it today.”
However the two Foam Lake stars, as well as Mandziuk and Payne, were not the only players to catch Boyda’s eye during the team’s first exhibition game of the spring.
Yorkton youngsters Jed Stachura and Matthew Balysky also proved they can play at a higher level on Thursday, prompting Boyda to sing their praises after the game. “Stachura and Balysky are young players for us,” mentioned Boyda, continuing, “They performed really well. They’re young but they didn’t shy away from the contact. They knew their assignments and I’m really happy with their development.
“Balysky is a great player and it runs in the family, but Jed did a fantastic job anchoring that offensive line and did a great job playing nose on defence and he’s going to be a good player for us in the near future.”
The Gridders lead for nearly the entire game on Thursday, putting up 14 points on their first two possessions for what ended up being the margin of victory.
In fact the Gridders dominated the entire game, outworking and out-hustling the larger Winnipeg side for all four quarters. “Our guys came out flying right from the opening kickoff,” offered the offensive coordinator. “We’ve been practicing for two weeks now and the guys were just itching to play. We talked about stepping on the sidelines, on the field and getting ready to play some football and the boys did that for four full quarters.”
Next action
The next action for the YMF Gridders high school football team will be this Friday when they host the Brandon Crocus Plains Plainsmen for a 3:30p.m. start at an as of yet undetermined location.
