The Estevan Comprehensive School senior basketball teams have a virtually insurmountable climb in front of them in the 78th annual McLeod Series.
The Weyburn Eagles are well on their way to their 29th straight victory in the traditional high school basketball series between the two cities after the first leg played Feb. 5 in Weyburn.
The ECS girls lost 68-33 and the boys' margin of defeat was even greater, as they went down 103-51.
The second leg of the series was to be played last night at ECS, with the Elecs trailing by a combined 87 points.
Weyburn leads the all-time series 40-37.
Senior boys assistant coach Rob Gallaway said the Eagles used physical intimidation to gain the early edge.
"I don't think Weyburn's that much better than us, but they came out intense. They were in our faces and intimidated the guys," said Gallaway.
"We made some little errors because they were in our faces and intimidated us. By the time we came around, it was too late."
If there were any bright spots for the Elecs, they would be the play of Nolan Tide and Matt Haux, who "played hard the whole game and didn't give up," Gallaway said.
The ECS teams are already down by more points than they lost by in the entire series last year, when the combined score was 249-179 for Weyburn.
The senior boys also played in a tournament in Balgonie on the weekend. The Elecs defeated Balcarres and lost to Caronport before losing to Humboldt in the third-place game.
