A ground-and-pound battle went in favour of the John Paul II Crusaders Tuesday.
Coming off of a 36-12 win at home over the Unity Warriors last week, the Crusaders improved to 2-0 on the season with a 29-20 triumph on the road against the Kindersley Kobras.
“It was one of those games where their lead was within six to eight points the whole time and both teams were really grinding it out with their running games,” Crusaders head coach Bruce Yockey said.
“With the way the wind was blowing, you had to be really careful with when and where you were throwing the ball, which made the ground game even more important.”
After falling behind 14-8 in the first half, the Crusaders made some key adjustments to the offensive line, which proved to be a turning point in the contest.
“At the start of the third quarter we got some really good blocks right off of the hop,” Yockey said. “Were ere able to march the ball right down the field by getting eight to 10 yards at time.
“We got some huge momentum off of that. We built up an eight-point lead and we never looked back.”
The performance by the offensive line allowed running back Jacob Stynsky to have a big day on the ground as he scored four touchdowns in the win.
“He was grinding it out and he’s a guy that we will be leaning on all season,” Yockey said.
“Our offensive line also did a great job with their pass protection. We didn’t throw the ball often, but Paul Cubbon made some big throws when he had to.”
The Crusaders also had a stout performance on defence, with Yockey being particularly pleased by the play of the defensive line.
“We got Adam Fransoo back after he missed the opener with an injury and that was huge to get him back,” Yockey said.
“Spencer Heidel also had a big game and we got some timely tackles from Andrew Pyle and Devin McAllister.”
The Crusaders will be back at home next Thursday afternoon when they will host the Martensville Royals at 4:30 p.m.
“After the short week it will be nice to get a bit of a rest to heal up the bumps and bruises,” Yockey said.
“It will be a tough test with Martensville and Delisle back to back. There are no easy games now.”
