The Estevan Sherrit Coal Miners had a strong showing, but came out on the losing end of a 26-14 decision against the Weyburn Ravens in an atom division game on Saturday.
The Miners defence had a tough time stopping Weyburn's running game, and head coach Garth Deitz said that was because his team needs to improve their tackling technique.
"We need to tackle way better if we want to win. You can't wrap a guy up at the shoulders and expect to take him down," he said.
The Ravens jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the opening quarter before Estevan running back Donny Mortenson found a hole in the Weyburn defence and ran down the sideline for a touchdown to get the home team on the board. After the game, Deitz commented on Mortenson's excellent play.
"Yeah, Donny had a great game for us today and so did Eathan Anderson. He was a late starter and he's only been with us for three weeks and he's been one of our best guys," Deitz said.
After Weyburn went up 20-6 in the second quarter, the Miners pulled out an excellent passing play that saw Carter Kuchinka air the ball out to Colein Poole, who in turn scampered into the end zone for the touchdown.
"We actually used that play last week and it resulted in a touchdown then too. But obviously we can't do it all the time or they'll catch on," said Deitz.
The Miners would also be successful on their two point conversion attempt, making the score 20-14 at halftime.
Unfortunately for the Miners, they couldn't get much going in the second half as the Ravens defence was able to shut them down and hang on for the 26-14 victory.
Next up for the Miners is a road game in Regina against the Kats on Saturday at 1 o'clock.
